The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has certified only 45% of airports on the African continent, Emanuel Chaves, president-reelect of the Airports Association International Africa (ACI-Africa), said today.

Speaking in the interview "Café da Manhã" on Radio Mozambique, Chaves said that the biggest challenge for his second mandate will be to unlock all the African potential of the sector to certify, by 2025, about 90 percent of the airports.

Among the biggest barriers to be overcome is the increase in flights and the reduction in costs, according to Chaves, who acknowledged the impracticality in some countries, such as Mozambique, to make overland trips "due to their size.

"Africa's total contribution to world [air] traffic is three percent, out of a total population of 16%. This means that very few people travel in Africa and the continent is very large. Just to imagine, from the south to the north of the continent it is a 10-hour flight," revealed the Mozambican in front of the ICA-Africa.

The official said that the increase in traffic "is an issue on the agenda of the governments of several countries and the African Union," and the ICA-Africa's effort is to maintain dialogue with the institutions that interact in this process to "massify the number of air tickets."

However, he warned that the process could be lengthy as airlines continue to face financial difficulties in acquiring more aircraft.

"Airlines are defined as businesses, and as such they exist to be profitable. And as long as they are not sure that they are going to be profitable they are going to continue to have that difficulty," he said.

On the other hand, Chave said that countries are already approximating flight numbers close to periods before covid-19.

"We are already reaching 90 percent post-covid recovery and in the international market and that we are around 75 percent," he said, predicting that in Africa the 2019 figures will not be reached until 2024.

"The most backward continent is Asia, because they won't hit it until 2025 due to the fact that China is still closed."