Major aviation bodies across Africa have united against attempts by national governments to shift the financial burden of state security and border tracking systems onto passengers and air carriers.
In a joint declaration, the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), the Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA), and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) rejected the imposition of new levies to fund state-run Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) programmes.
Signed by AFRAA Secretary-General Abdérahmane Berthé, AASA Chief Executive Officer Aaron Munetsi, and IATA Regional Vice President Kamil Alawadhi, the statement warned that saddling travellers with extra fees would inflate ticket prices, harm regional connectivity, and damage wider economic growth driven by tourism and commerce.
The industry representatives stressed that International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) rules, specifically Doc 9082, designate border security as a fundamental state responsibility. While API and PNR schemes enable law enforcement to gather pre-travel data to streamline border checks and identify security risks, the associations insisted that public treasuries, not airline customers, must foot the bill.
“We support the implementation of Advance Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record data transfer and recognise the important role passenger data plays in keeping borders secure,” the signatories noted, adding: “However, these systems must be aligned around internationally recognised standards and funded correctly.”
To prevent fragmented deployments, the groups urged governments to adopt unified frameworks anchored on legality, proportionality, purpose limitation, and data accuracy. They further called for strict limits on data retention, non-discriminatory safeguards, and adherence to global formats.
In the statement, they highlighted the need for public-private cooperation over financial levies and concluded: “A consistent approach, with governments and industry working together, improves security outcomes, makes travel more seamless, safeguards personal data, and avoids unnecessary costs and complexity.”