Africa's Aviation Market

Monthly Airline Data Updates for the African Market

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

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

Here are some of the key stats from this month's African aviation market update:

  • 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
Data is sourced from OAG's Schedules Analyser; a cutting-edge platform for airline schedule analysis.

 

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

 

Which is the biggest airline in Africa?

  • Ethiopian Airlines is Africa’s largest airline, offering 2m seats in December 2025 - a 4.1% increase that adds 78,600 more seats than December 2024.
  • South African Airways grew at the fastest rate of 33.5%, followed by Royal Air Maroc by 24% and easyJet by 21.3% vs last year.
  • easyJet displaced Kenya Airways from the Top 10 this month, moving it to 11th position.

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

 

Which is the Busiest Airport in Africa?

  • Cairo remains the largest airport in Africa with 1.7m seats in December 2025, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%.
  • The fastest-growing airports among Africa’s Top 10 were Casablanca and Marrakech, where capacity increased by 17.5% and 13.6% respectively.
  • Seat capacity remained constant at Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International with 0.2% growth.

Airline Capacity in Africa | December 2025

 

How much airline capacity is there in Africa This Month?

  • Total capacity across Africa this month has increased by 6.8% vs December 2024 to 25.2m seats.
  • International capacity represents 77% of total capacity and is up by 7.6% vs December 2024. Domestic capacity increased by 4.4%.
  • Mainline carriers make up 79% of the market, with their capacity rising 6.1% compared to December 2024. Low-cost carriers grew even faster at a rate of 9.9% year-over-year to reach 5.2 million seats.

*As of July 2025, international capacity is reported on a two-way basis (previously one-way departing).

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African Countries' Airline Capacity | December 2025

 

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

  • Egypt remains the largest country market in Africa with 3m seats in December 2025, an increase of 7.6% vs last year.
  • Tanzania saw the fastest capacity growth this month, up 20.1%. Morocco followed with a 13.3% increase, and Algeria with 12.8%.

Which African Country Has THE Most DOMESTIC Airline Capacity?

 

  • South Africa continues to be the largest domestic market in Africa with 1.8m seats this month, an increase of 6.9% vs December 2024.
  • Domestic capacity also rose sharply in Tanzania, up 27% from last December to 415,100 seats, and in Algeria by 26.2%, reaching 388,700 seats.
  • Capacity in Congo contracted by 28.6% this month, which resulted in 40,600 fewer seats.

Airline Capacity By African Region | December 2025

Where do flights from Africa go?

  • Capacity to Europe remains the largest international destination region with 9.6m seats, 769,900 additional seats vs December 2024.
  • Capacity to the Middle East increased by 338,400 seats compared to last year.

Which Region of Africa Has Most AIRLINE Capacity?

  • Capacity to/from North Africa is the largest market with 6.8m seats, growing by 491,900 seats vs last year.
  • Capacity grew to/from Western Europe by 356,900 seats, followed by Eastern Africa and Southern Africa by 261,800 and 239,400 additional seats respectively.
  • Capacity to/from North East Asia grew at the fastest rate of 29.2% vs December 2024, to 152,500 seats.

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