Revue des sciences civiles et juridiques

Abstrait

The Innocent Passage in African Air Law

Kathleen Yeno-Rekanga

There are so many examples to illustrate the diversity of international flights from or to an African country. It is a race against the clock, the goal being to get from one point to another, from one end of the planet to the other, in a relatively short time and with the least possible expense. This evidences the importance of transportation and air travel to business, tourism and any nation’s economic growth. By the nature of international air travel, commercial flights travel several miles above sea level and across different sovereign States’ airspace. Indeed, the question might be
raised whether there is some sort of safe passage under air law that would allow civil aircraft to cross the airspace of other sovereign States without being concerned about paying any financial reward for passage. There is considerable interest in removing military aircraft from the subject because, for the principle of innocent passage to apply, the aircraft must not in any way present a threat to the safety and security of the state over which it is flying.