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 2m seats in June 26, an increase of 10%, 179,300 additional seats.
• Within the Top 10, Air Algerie grew at the fastest rate in the region of 11.2%, followed by Royal Air Maroc increasing by 10.8% vs last year.

Top ten busiest airports in Africa by departing seats

Which is the busiest airport in Africa?

• Cairo remains the largest airport in the continent with 1.7m seats in June 26, capacity increased by 4% vs June 25.
• Fastest growth within the Top 10 largest airports in Africa came from Lagos, with an increase of 16.7% (59,800 seats). Addis Ababa was next fastest with growth of 8.9% (92,800 seats) and Marrakech, Morocco, where seats grew by 7.5% (34,600 seats).
• 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 3.2% vs June 25 to 23.4m seats.
• International capacity represents 78% of total capacity and is up by 2.7% vs June 25. Domestic capacity increased by 5%.
• Mainline carriers represent 80% of the market and capacity increased by 3.4% vs June 25.  LCCs grew more slowly by 2.1% vs last year to 4.8m seats.

African countries' airline capacity

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

• Egypt remains the largest country market in Africa with 2.7m seats in June 26, an increase of 1.7% vs last year.
• With the Top 10 countries, capacity grew at the fastest rate again in Nigeria, with a 21.3% increase vs June 25, driven mostly by increases in the domestic market. 

Which African country has most domestic airline capacity?

• South Africa continues to be the largest Domestic market in Africa, with 1.5m seats this month.
• Domestic capacity increased by 31.3% in Congo to 122,100 seats in June 26. 
• Volume wise domestic capacity in Nigeria grew most, up 21.7%, increasing by 130,200 seats this month.
• Domestic capacity in Kenya reduced by 18.7%, 76,400 fewer seats.

Airline capacity by African region

Where do flights from Africa go?

• Capacity to Europe remains the largest International destination region, with 9.1m seats (367,700 additional seats  vs June 25).
• Capacity within Africa is the second largest market with 4m seats, increasing by 8% in June 26.

Which region of Africa has most airline capacity?

More resources from OAG