OAG Travel News

Last week’s focus was on air service in capital cities of U.S. states.  This week we’ll turn to a review of air service in capitals across the continent of Africa.

Capital cities with no air service
There are 54 countries in Africa, and only two capital cities do not have any air service.  The largest is Tanzania’s capital city of Dodoma.  Although Dodoma became Tanzania’s capital city in the 1960s, many of the government functions remain in Dar Es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania.  And so does the majority of the country’s air service.  Benin’s capital city of Porto-Novo does not have any air service – or even an airport.  But Cotonou – the largest city in Benin and home to Cotonou Cadjehoun Airport – is just a short 18 miles (30 kilometers) away. 

Countries with more than one capital city
Two countries in Africa have more than one capital city.  The Republic of South Africa has three capitals – Bloemfontein (judicial), Cape Town (legislative), and Pretoria (administrative).  All three cities have air service.  The Kingdom of Swaziland – landlocked on three sides by South Africa and on one side by Mozambique – has two capital cities.  Lobamba serves as the royal and legislative capital; 11 miles (18 kilometers) away, Mbabane serves as the administrative capital.  The only airport in Swaziland with scheduled commercial air service is located in a third city – Manzini – less than 20 miles (33 kilometers) from the two capital cities.

Capital cities with the most air service

1. Cairo, Egypt – With an average of 153 daily flight departure to nearly 80 cities worldwide, Cairo has more air service than any other capital city in Africa.

2. Cape Town, South Africa – Cape Town enjoys over 100 daily flight departures to over 20 destinations, the majority in Africa.

3. Nairobi, Kenya – Over 90 daily flight departures from two airports to over 50 cities.

4. Algiers, Algeria – 60 daily flight departures to over 60 destinations.

5. Tripoli, Libya – Nearly 50 daily flight departures to over 50 destinations.

Capital cities with the least air service

1. Yaoundé, Cameroon – Yaoundé is linked with Douala, Cameroon, by Kenya Airways nearly five times per week, and with Brussels on Brussels Airlines twice per week.  The 28 flights per month rank Yaoundé as the African capital with the least air service (of those cities with air service).

2. Sao Tomé, Sao Tomé and Principe – 41 monthly flight departures – slightly more than one per day – link this island nation with five cities, four in Africa in addition to Lisbon, Portugal.

3. Mogadishu, Somalia – Mogadishu enjoys an average of two daily flight departures.  Nearly half of the service is to the Middle East – including to cities in Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.  Other service within Africa includes domestic service within Somalia as well as links to Nairobi and neighboring Djibouti.

4. Bangui, Central African Republic – With an average of two daily flight departures, Bangui is linked by air with five cities – four in Africa and Paris.

5. Asmara, Eritrea – Asmarans can reach eight destinations in Africa, the Middle East and Rome; services are provided by four airlines.

Airlines serving Africa’s capital cities
Not surprisingly, the airlines providing the most flights to Africa’s capital cities are the flag carriers of the countries with the most air service.  Star Alliance carriers EgyptAir, South African Airways and Ethiopian Airlines are among the largest.  SkyTeam associate member Kenya Airways and SkyTeam applicant Air Algérie round out the top five.

Air France is the largest non-African-flag carrier to provide service to capitals across the continent.  Former colonial links have led to air service by numerous European-flag carriers flying to Africa’s capital cities, including Alitalia, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Iberia, KLM, and TAP Air Portugal, among others.  Service by Middle Eastern-flag carriers, including Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Bahrain Air, Gulf Air, Kuwait Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Yemenia is also robust.  In all, nearly 150 airlines provide service to Africa’s capital cities.

There is great potential for growth of flights between China and Africa.  Current nonstop China – Africa service is limited to the following routes, and only one includes a capital city:
- Hong Kong – Johannesburg (note: not a capital city) on Cathay Pacific, South African Airways and Air Mauritius
- Guangzhou – Nairobi on Kenya Airways

Currently no Chinese airlines offer nonstop service to any African cities, although China Southern (Morovia-Paris-Urumqi-Beijing) and Hainan Airlines (Luanda-Dubai-Beijing) do offer one-stop services to two African capitals once per week.  There are several other one-stop services to China offered by African-flag carriers.

Our tour of air service in capital cities around the world will continue each week throughout the month of December.

Source: Official Airline Guide (OAG) Schedule Tapes; only flight departures for December 2008 included in analysis; not all destinations served daily.

Notes: Countries included as Africa by OAG not included in analysis follow: Mayotte (overseas collectivity of France), Reunion Island (overseas department of France), and Ascension Island (dependency of British overseas territory); Western Sahara not included in analysis; some airports may be located outside of capital city (e.g. Kampala served by Entebbe-Kampala International Airport located in Entebbe).

OAG contributor Laura Jackson was just two weeks old when she took her first flight on Piedmont Airlines.  In junior high school, she developed a business plan for her own airline.  Today she manages strategy and policy issues at one of the world's busiest airports and provides original content and aviation industry analysis for OAG.