Accra, Dec. 15, GNA - The Secretary-General of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), Mr Christian Folly-Kossi, has been re-elected to serve another five-year term.

A statement issued in Accra on Wednesday said he was re-elected at the 36th Annual General Assembly of the Association held in Dakar, Senegal, from December 6-7.

Mr Folly-Kossi, a Togolese national, was first elected in December 1999 in Khartoum, Sudan.

The statement said since assuming office, he had begun a restructuring programme to make AFRAA more responsive to the needs of the African air transport industry.

Mr Folly-Kossi expressed regret at the collapse of numerous African national carriers, which were established in the early 1960s and said a major challenge facing the African airline industry was the lack of political will on the part of African governments to allow the airlines to operate independently as commercial establishments.

"We need to change that attitude and strategise to be able to take the lion's share of this ever-growing market."