Africa's aviation market

African aviation market at a glance

• Busiest airport: Cairo International
• Biggest airline in Africa: Ethiopian Airlines
• African country with most global airline capacity: Egypt
• Country with most domestic airline capacity: South Africa

Top ten airlines in Africa (departing seats, one-way)

Which is the biggest airline in Africa?

• Ethiopian Airlines remains Africa’s largest carrier, operating 2 million seats in April 2026 - up 6.9% year on year, or 126,700 additional seats.
• Within the Top 10 airlines in Africa, South African Airways recorded the fastest growth, with capacity up 24.8% year on year, followed by easyJet at 22.7%.
• Egyptair reduced capacity by 3.3%, operating 28,100 fewer seats than last year.
  

Top ten busiest airports in Africa by departing seats

Which is the busiest airport in Africa?

• Cairo remains Africa’s busiest airport, with 1.6 million seats in April 2026. Capacity is broadly flat year on year, edging up just 0.6%.
• Of Africa’s ten largest airports, Lagos, Casablanca, and Marrakech recorded the fastest capacity growth, up 17.9%, 11.2%, and 10.5% year on year, respectively. Lagos airport is undergoing a full-scale transformation involving rebuilding the main terminal, expanding aircraft capacity, improving roads and access and upgrading security and technology as the government endeavours to turn its main airport from an overstretched facility into a true regional hub.
• READY TO VIEW: The World's Busiest Airports of 2025

Airline capacity in Africa

How much airline capacity is there in Africa this month?

• Total capacity across Africa this month has increased by 5.2% vs April 2025 to 23.9m seats.
• International capacity represents 77% of total capacity and is up by 3.9%, while domestic capacity increased by 9.9% year-on-year.
• Mainline carriers account for 79% of the market, with capacity up 4.5% versus April 2025. Low-cost carriers grew faster, up 8.2% year on year to reach 5 million seats.

African countries' airline capacity

Which African country has most airline capacity? (Domestic + international)

• Egypt remains the largest country market in Africa with 2.9m seats in April 2026, an increase of 2.8% vs last year.
• Within the Top 10 African country markets, Nigeria recorded the fastest capacity growth, up 24.2% versus April 2025. However, growth there remains relatively volatile.
  

Which African country has most domestic airline capacity?

• South Africa remains Africa’s largest domestic market, with 1.7 million seats this month - an 8.7% increase year on year.
• Domestic capacity in Cameroon almost doubled again, reaching 91,300 seats in April 2026. 
• Domestic capacity in Algeria and Nigeria also increased significantly by 30.8% and 28.9%, respectively.
  

Airline capacity by African region

Where do flights from Africa go?

• Europe remains Africa’s largest international destination region, with 9.6 million seats - up 717,400 seats compared with April 2025.

Which region of Africa has most airline capacity?

More resources from OAG