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relative competitiveness between Tunisian charter operators and their European counterparts on the international market with Europe. In addition, the national carrier, Tunisair, seems to have been less successful than Royal Air Maroc in capturing sixth freedom traffic between West Africa and Europe. This is probably due to its smaller size and its stronger exposure by geographic proximity to competition from Libya’s Afriqiyah Airways on this particular market segment. The Arab Republic of Egypt is not a member of the AMU, but a member of COMESA. COMESA has made some progress toward liberalization, but still falls short of fully implementing the Yamoussoukro Decision. The number of carriers in Egypt fluctuated during 1997–2007, whereas total seat capacity has remained more or less steady. The fluctuation was mainly due to changes in the industry’s structure, which consisted of one dominant flag carrier, EgyptAir, and several smaller charter operators, some of which ceased operations soon after they entered the market. A variety of factors appeared to account for this, such as the volatility of the international tourist market given recurrent security problems and the domination of this segment of the industry by financial investors some of which have only short-term investment strategies. Overall, the Yamoussoukro Decision has had little impact within the North African market. However, some North African carriers have begun to expand their operations into Sub-Saharan Africa, where most can benefit from being located in state that is party to the decision.
Development in West Africa West Africa has done quite well in implementing the principles of the Yamoussoukro Decision. WAEMU has fully liberalized its internal market and BAG has applied most of the principles in a multilateral agreement. The regional development of West African countries can be examined by grouping certain smaller players, while reviewing dominant countries separately. The first group of small countries comprises Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Togo, most of which are members of WAEMU. The development of the air transport industry of these countries was unstable, consisting of the entrance of only a few carriers with low capacities (table 5.11). In some of countries, for instance, Mali and Togo, the air transport industry completely disappeared after some unsuccessful attempts to develop new operators. Niger has only one operator that apparently has no aircraft. Burkina Faso has been able to maintain its flag carrier, which continues to operate at a reduced scale,