By the new agreement, the 17 countries, out 35 SAATM signatories, will fully open their air transport markets immediately to one another and without conditions.
While the Federal Government is planning the new national carrier to spearhead SAATM, local airline operators reiterated that they should not be shoehorned into continental aeropolitics that is allegedly designed to rip-off the Nigerian market in favour of bigger African airlines. Among the countries are: Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroun, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Togo and Zambia. All these States were adjudged to have domestic carriers eligible to participate in the SAATM.
A member of the Airline Operators of Nigeria yesterday, told The Guardian that the local operators were unaware of the test-run of SAATM. A recent continental study on the benefits of SAATM identified key benefits of SAATM implementation, including $4.2 billion additional Gross Domestic Product , 596,000 new jobs, 27 per cent reduction in fares and contribution to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals .