Africa's Aviation Market

Monthly Airline Data Updates for the African Market

Discover the Busiest Airports and Airlines in Africa This Month | January 2025

How much airline capacity is there in Africa? Find out with new data each month, detailing:

  • Which is the busiest airport?
  • What is the biggest airline in Africa?
  • Which African country has the most airline capacity?
  • Which regions are most visited?
  • And more.
Data is sourced from OAG's Schedules Analyser; a cutting-edge platform for airline schedule analysis.

 

Airline Capacity in Africa | January 2025

 

How much airline capacity is there in Africa This Month?

  • Total capacity across Africa this month will increase by 8.3% compared to last January.
  • Domestic capacity will increase by 4.0% which equates to 200,000 more seats, although the majority of seat growth this month is coming from international capacity, which is up by 10.6% this month, equivalent to an additional 1 million seats compared to January 2024.
  • Although accounting for only 15% share of the market, LCC carriers are growing by 439,000 seats (+21%) of the total growth of 1.24m seats in the market. The remaining 805,000 extra seats are due to the Mainline carriers growing by 6%.

WE'LL LET YOU KNOW WHEN NEW DATA IS ADDED

Add your name to the list and we'll email you once a week with a round-up of the new aviation data added to our dashboards, the latest in-depth analysis from our air travel experts, travel technology news, easy to digest infographics and more.

African Countries' Airline Capacity | January 2025

 

Which African Country Has The Most Airline Capacity (Domestic + International)?

  • Egypt is the largest country market in Africa with 2.7m seats in January, and is up by 274,000 seats compared to last year.
  • This is the second largest growth in seats of the Top 10 Countries, with only Morocco showing a larger growth in seats this month, which is up 284,000 seats.
  • Morocco also has the highest growth rate of the Top 10 Countries, with capacity increasing by 19.6% this month. This is followed by Nigeria up 18.1% and Algeria up 14.3%.
  • Of those in the Top 10, two markets are down compared to last year - United Republic of Tanzania which is down 3.8%, and South Africa which is down 1%.

 

Which African Country Has THE Most DOMESTIC Airline Capacity?

 

  • South Africa is the largest domestic market in Africa with 1.5m seats in January, and is the market which is down the most in terms of seats compared to January 2024, with 55,000 less seats.
  • Three other domestic markets in the Top 10 are down; United Republic of Tanzania is down 39,000 seats (-10.2%), Kenya is down 4,700 seats (-1.0%) and Democratic Republic of Congo is down 4,600 seats (-3.5%).
  • Morocco has the highest growth rate of the Top 10 domestic markets with capacity increasing by 35% this month. This is followed by Nigeria up 21%, which is showing the largest volume increase in domestic seats, up 157,000.

Top Ten Busiest Airports by Departing Seats in Africa | January 2025

 

Which is the Busiest Airport in Africa?

  • Cairo is the largest airport in the continent with 1.59m seats this month which is 41% larger than the second largest airport Addis Ababa with 1.12m seats. Capacity at CAI is up by 4% this month compared last January.
  • Out of the Top 10 airports, Addis Ababa is adding the most seats this month compared to last year, up 144,000 seats.
  • The fastest growing airport amongst the Top 10 largest in Africa is Hurghada in Egypt, where seats have grown by 28% this month.
  • The only airport in decline in the Top 10 is Cape Town which is down 0.6% compared January 2024, reflecting the national and regional trends.

Airline Capacity By African Region | January 2025

Where do flights from Africa go?

  • Capacity between Africa and Asia Pacific is growing fastest this month, with an increase of 17.5% compared to last January. This is from a small base however, as the Africa - Asia Pacific market has just 312,000 seats in January 2025.
  • Capacity to Europe is largest, with 4.2m seats and is growing by 570,000 seats (+15.6%) which is the largest growth in seats across all regions.  
  • The region with the slowest growth rate is Middle East, up 4.7%.
  • The other two regions for African international capacity are The Americas which is up 11.9% and intra-Africa which is up 8.3%. 

Which Region of Africa Has Most AIRLINE Capacity?

  • The North Africa region continues to have the strongest growth both in terms of the percentage increase and volume, with a growth rate of 14.7% year on year and volume growth of 786,000 seats this January.  
  • The market with the second fastest growth after North Africa is Central/Western Africa which is up 9.2% this month followed by Eastern Africa which is up 6.2%.
  • Southern Africa is the only region in decline, with seat capacity down 1.5% compared to January 2024.

Top Ten Airlines in Africa (Departing seats, one-way) | January 2025

 

Which is the biggest airline in Africa?

  • Ethiopian remains Africa's largest carrier, accounting for 1.9m seats in January, which is up 239,000 seats on last January which is supporting the growth at its hub, Addis Ababa airport.
  • Ethiopian is one of three carriers in the Top 10 largest in Africa delivering double digit growth, adding 14.1% more seats this month compared to January 2024.
  • The other two airlines in the Top 10 delivering double digit growth are Air Peace, up 53.4% which is fuelling the 21% domestic growth in Nigeria and Ryanair, up 24.4% from the airlines growth in Morocco - the only African country Ryanair operate in.
  • The two airlines in the Top 10 down capacity this month versus January 2024 are Airlink, down 10.0% and Kenya Airways, down 1.3%.

MORE RESOURCES FROM OAG

 

China Aviation market Data

The busiest airports, largest airlines, biggest cities for airline capacity and more

View Data

US Aviation Market Data

This month's leading airlines, airports, states and more from the US market.

View Data

South East Asian Aviation Market Data

SE Asia's biggest country markets, airports, airlines and more are updated each month.

View Data

Infographics

View the latest easy to digest aviation data infographics.

View Now

Webinars

Catch up on our latest live webinar with industry experts.

Watch Now

Aviation Market Analysis

Analysis of the latest data and developments in the aviation world.

Read Now