Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has moved to abolish air transport taxes across the region, a decision leaders say will encourage travel, trade, and business mobility.<\/p>\n
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The measure follows a decision taken at the ECOWAS summit in Abuja this December 2025.<\/p>\n
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Economist and Managing Director of Timeline Consult Limited, Shuaibu Idris, explained the economic rationale behind the move. \u201cAirline ticket prices are influenced by many factors, including fuel costs and aircraft acquisition,\u201d he said. \u201cReducing or abolishing air transport taxes will lower ticket costs, making travel more accessible and encouraging economic activity across the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Adeniyi Ifetayo, Chief Executive Officer of Megastar Media Communications, added that the reform could have a major impact on regional trade, tourism, and business mobility, particularly for Nigeria as one of West Africa\u2019s largest aviation and economic hubs. \u201cLower ticket costs will ease movement and increase travel within the ECOWAS bloc,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will encourage more regional trade, attract tourists, and facilitate business operations across member states.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Ifetayo stressed the importance of monitoring the implementation of the policy. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about setting the policy,\u201d he said. \u201cECOWAS and national aviation Ministries must ensure the cost savings are actually passed on to passengers.\u201d<\/p>\n
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By reducing air transport costs, ECOWAS aims to strengthen connectivity between member states, supporting economic integration, cross-border commerce, and tourism development in West Africa.<\/p>\n
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–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14282,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-21392","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has moved to abolish air transport taxes across the region","published_date":"2025-12-19 15:10:12","news_description":"Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has moved to abolish air transport taxes across the region","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25080,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21392\/revisions\/25080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=21392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}