IATA Warns Europe and Africa: Reform Aviation Policies or Face Economic Decline

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has issued stark warnings to governments in both Europe and Africa, urging sweeping policy reforms to prevent further weakening of their aviation sectors and the broader economic consequences that would follow. While the specific challenges differ, the global airline body argues that poor regulatory choices on both continents are stifling growth, eroding efficiency, and jeopardising long-term sustainability.

In Europe, IATA expressed deep frustration that years of warnings have gone unheeded, with policy continuing to move in the wrong direction. The association noted that European air connectivity grew by just 1% in 2025, below the continent’s compound annual growth rate of 1.5% over the past decade — a performance it described as a virtual flatline.

“The growth of airline route networks reflects both developments in demand and the operating environment. That the EU’s air connectivity will virtually flatline in 2025 is no surprise,” said Thomas Reynaert, IATA’s Senior Vice President for External Relations. “The regulatory burden is onerous, costs are high, and the EU’s well-documented underlying competitiveness issues have not been seriously addressed.”

IATA highlighted that 1,127 routes were cancelled across the EU in 2025, while only 1,281 were added, yielding a net gain of just 154 routes. For an industry that supports over 9.2 million jobs and generates €760 billion in GDP across the bloc, the association views such stagnation as a policy failure.

Central to IATA’s criticism is the EU261 passenger rights regulation, which it says has spiralled into an €8 billion annual cost burden for European carriers. The association insists it is not against consumer protection, but is calling for reform that would increase the time thresholds triggering compensation obligations. Without changes, it argues, thinner, less profitable regional connections will become increasingly difficult to justify.

IATA also took aim at Europe’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel mandates, specifically the e-SAF requirement, which it believes should be scrapped. While supporting the transition to cleaner fuels, the association contends the current mandate inflates costs without boosting actual production. It is proposing a ‘book-and-claim’ system to allow airlines to purchase SAF where it is most efficiently produced. Additionally, IATA urged the EU to redirect Emissions Trading Scheme revenues toward lowering SAF production costs, strengthen the regulation of rising airport and air navigation charges, and eliminate passenger taxes, as Sweden has done.

In summary, IATA’s prescription for Europe is fewer mandates, lower costs, and greater commercial freedom for airlines to decide which routes to operate and how to grow.

In Africa, the challenge is not an excess of regulation but an absence of policies that allow aviation to function as a normal market. Addressing the Focus Africa Conference in Addis Ababa, Kamil Alawadhi, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East, laid out a strategy centred on safety, cost-competitiveness, energy security and sustainability, and ease of doing business.

A critical concern remains the blocked funds crisis. As of the end of March 2026, African governments were holding $774 million in airline revenues that carriers are legally entitled to repatriate but cannot access. Algeria tops the list with $258 million, followed by the XAF Zone ($105 million), Mozambique ($82 million), Eritrea ($78 million), and Angola ($73 million). IATA warned that airlines serving these markets face the prospect of earning revenue they cannot spend, invest, or repatriate — an existential threat in a capital-intensive, thin-margin industry.

The association also condemned excessive taxes and charges, noting that aviation costs in Africa are 15% above the global average, largely driven by government-imposed levies that violate international civil aviation standards. It cited Tanzania’s API-PNR charge of $45 per one-way trip as the highest in the world, with similar excessive fees in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya directly affecting ticket prices and route viability.

On visa policy, IATA noted that nearly half of all intra-African travel still requires visas to be obtained before departure, suppressing regional mobility, dampening tourism, and undermining economic integration. Where visa restrictions have been relaxed, the association observed stronger tourism revenue, more resilient routes, and improved regional air services.

Although the policy battles in Europe over EU261 and e-SAF mandates have no direct connection to the conversations in Addis Ababa about blocked funds and visa liberalisation, IATA’s underlying argument is identical. The association insists that governments viewing aviation primarily as a revenue source are making themselves poorer over the long term. Every route not launched, every connection cut, and every traveller priced out of flying represents an economic opportunity that never materialises.

“Aviation is the economic infrastructure for Africa. Its value lies in the long-term benefits it delivers,” Alawadhi said. “An aviation strategy focused on safety, cost-competitiveness, energy security/sustainability, and ease of doing business will create jobs, enable trade, support tourism, and further regional integration. The prosperity this generates will allow governments to push forward social and economic development more durably than any tax that might be collected from travellers.”

IATA’s message to both continents is clear: reform aviation policy or risk deepening economic failure.