The first African Air Transport Convention and Exhibition opened on Monday 15 June 2026 in Lomé under the patronage of the Togolese government. Along with Paul Kagamé and Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, African leaders called for the rapid realization of the Single African Air Transport Market (MUTAA), presented as a strategic lever for integration and development.
Meeting at Lomé Hotel 2 February, the Rwandan and Togolese Heads of State set the tone. Paul Kagame stressed the need to consider aviation not as a risk, but as a strategic opportunity for the continent. He urged governments and financial partners to invest heavily in the modern infrastructure, airlines and logistics chains. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, for its part, recalled that African integration is measured by the concrete results: open air routes, reduced costs, shortened delays and facilitated exchanges.
According to him, the project of a single African sky must go the course of the discourse to become an operational reality, carried by firm commitments and permanent coordination between States, regulators and companies. Guest of Honour, Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo delivered a direct message:
« Africa does not need new declarations of intent, but concrete decisions that can connect capitals, boost trade and tourism, and make the continent a truly integrated economic zone.« .
A United and Strategic Event for the Future of African Air Transport
The Lomé Convention, organized by the African Commission on Civil Aviation (CAFAC) and Commission of the African Union (CUA), brings together until 19 June 2026 all stakeholders in the sector: dpolicy makers, regulators, airlines, airport operators, investors, maintenance providers (MRO), training institutes, aerospace manufacturers and freight operators.
Senegal was represented at the opening ceremony by the Director-General of ANACIM, Dr. Diaga Basse, in the absence of the new Minister of Land and Air Transport, Serigne Abdoul Ahad Ndiaye. In launching this first continental meeting, Lomé sets itself a strategic crossroads for the future of African air transport. The calls of Kagamé, Gnassingbé and Obasanjo resonate as a warning: the MUTAA must now move from promise to action, so that Africa takes its flight towards effective economic and air integration.
Mamadou SY
