Air Transport in Africa Outlook - 2025

[rwandan-flyer]

Kenya Airways plans to start Nairobi Beijing Daxing service next year : https://m.chinanews.com/wap/detail/ecns ... 0324.shtml

I m quite "surprise" to not see them to serve Shanghai, because the point to point demand between Kenya Airways destinations in Africa and PVG seems to be higher than for PEK International airport or Daxing. In Shanghai you have two SkyTeam operators with a strong hub for Asia and Oceania: Shanghai Airlines and China Eastern while in Beijing the hub of China Eastern seems less bigger and with the departure of China Southern from SkyTeam (which still serving Nairobi from Guangzhou via Changsha), there is only one big (size of the hub) Chinese SkyTeam operator.

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JamboJet (Kenya Airways Low Cost) has added a 9th Q400NG. The airline is evaluating the potential to open regional routes (outside Kenya) from Kisumu (Kenya). It's a very old project for Kisumu Airport. In deed in 2010 before the expansion of airport, the airport was already wanted to serve routes to Entebbe (Uganda), Arusha & Mwanza (Tanzania) , Juba (South Sudan) and Kigali (Rwanda). https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/ ... nd-5093908

On completion the airport will open new routes linking Nairobi to Entebbe, Kigali, Arusha, Mwanza and Juba and of direct cargo aircraft operations to Europe, Middle East and within the region. https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/20 ... on-course/

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Tanzania Opens Airspace to Foreign Airlines Following EU ban https://africa.businessinsider.com/loca ... an/t8kk3nt

Ethiopian and Qatar Airways have been granted extended rights to operate additional routes. I don't see what they could be open as a new destination ? Dodoma ? Mwanza ?

[freakyboy2021]

Kenya Airways plans to start Nairobi Beijing Daxing service next year : https://m.chinanews.com/wap/detail/ecns ... 0324.shtml

I m quite "surprise" to not see them to serve Shanghai, because the point to point demand between Kenya Airways destinations in Africa and PVG seems to be higher than for PEK International airport or Daxing. In Shanghai you have two SkyTeam operators with a strong hub for Asia and Oceania: Shanghai Airlines and China Eastern while in Beijing the hub of China Eastern seems less bigger and with the departure of China Southern from SkyTeam (which still serving Nairobi from Guangzhou via Changsha), there is only one big (size of the hub) Chinese SkyTeam operator.

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JamboJet (Kenya Airways Low Cost) has added a 9th Q400NG. The airline is evaluating the potential to open regional routes (outside Kenya) from Kisumu (Kenya). It's a very old project for Kisumu Airport. In deed in 2010 before the expansion of airport, the airport was already wanted to serve routes to Entebbe (Uganda), Arusha & Mwanza (Tanzania) , Juba (South Sudan) and Kigali (Rwanda). https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/ ... nd-5093908

On completion the airport will open new routes linking Nairobi to Entebbe, Kigali, Arusha, Mwanza and Juba and of direct cargo aircraft operations to Europe, Middle East and within the region. https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/20 ... on-course/

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Tanzania Opens Airspace to Foreign Airlines Following EU ban https://africa.businessinsider.com/loca ... an/t8kk3nt

Ethiopian and Qatar Airways have been granted extended rights to operate additional routes. I don't see what they could be open as a new destination ? Dodoma ? Mwanza ?

No doubt for KQ's PKX option is a political reason, from capital to capital, a meaningful route than PVG. And the 787-8 might reduce payload from NBO to PVG.

[rwandan-flyer]

Yes probably. But note that Kenya Airways will add B777-300ER. They have some leased to Turkish Airlines since mid 2010s.


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Last update as of June 2025 (first batch announced in 2023) of new Royal Air Maroc destinations probably by 2027. There are some mistakes in the article because some of routes are already served since some months or years and some routes are a resuming (https://lematin-ma.translate.goog/natio ... r_pto=wapp)

In bold East African routes

- Manchester (currently served)
- Munich
- Zurich (currently served)
- Naples (currently served)
- Tripoli
- Niamey (currently since many years)
- Johannesburg (service suspended early 2000s)
- Los Angeles
- Rio de Janeiro (served before the covid)
- Guangzhou

Destinations under development in Africa:

- Addis-Abeba (Ethiopia) [/b]
- Dar es Salam (Tanzania)[/b]
- N'Djamena (Chad, served between 2014 and 2019 https://ecomatin-net.translate.goog/tra ... _hist=true )
- Nairobi (Kenya, service suspended in 2019: https://en.yabiladi.com/articles/detail ... ights.html)
- Khartoum (Soudan)
- Kigali (Rwanda, planned to open during the iata winter season....2009 with Bangui and Luanda, only BGF and LAD have opened : https://www-aeronautique-ma.translate.g ... r_pto=wapp)
- Pointe-Noire (Rep of Congo, service suspended in mid 2010s)
- Sal (Cabo Verde, Praia the capital is currently served via Bissau City)

[rwandan-flyer]

Qatar Airways and Kenya Airways form strategic partnership to expand Africa–Middle East connectivity https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/keny ... nectivity/

It's a match between Etihad, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways and Emirates in East Africa. Below, the biggest partnerships (outside airlines alliances) :

Ethiopian Airlines : Etihad Airways (MoU, and previously with Kenya Airways and approached by the Gov of Rwanda in 2010s)

Kenya Airways : Qatar Airways (MoU), Emirates Airlines (huge interline agreement)

RwandAir : Turkish Airlines (MoU since 2011 + code share on over 30 Turkish Airlines & RwandAir destinations), Qatar Airways (acquisition of 49% of RwandAir stake)

I don't say that because i m a native from East Africa, but it's probably the only regions in Africa (with North Africa) with the greatest potential. Ethiopian and Kenya are well ahead followed by Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. East Africa has a great point to point demand with Middle East, India, China and Europe. You don't need to take the top 10 market to reach at least 100 000 pax per year for the point to point demand on their main markets. Only a top 1 or top 5. The fact that some airlines based in the region have a good network in Africa (some markets can't be served by Etihad, Emirates, Turkish or Qatar Airways) helps to attract some big players to create strong partnerships and you don't need to have the 2 airlines in same airlines

[rwandan-flyer]

Edelweiss Air to start Zurich Windhoek service from 1 June 26. We learn that point to point demand between Zurich and Windhoek is 22 000 pax in 2024 a +7% increase vs 2023. However outside Munich, FRA and Zurich, there are also a good point to point demand between Windhoek and Paris, Brussels, London, Milan and Rome. Quite strange that Qatar Airways has failed when they resumed flights after covid.

Air Namibia closed its Zurich Windhoek route in mid 2000s. They used MD11 if i m right.

From Europe, Lufthansa Group has the monopoly in Nambia with Discover which serves WDH from Munich and Frankfurt. KLM didn't resume its service after the covid and Turkish Airlines has not yet started flights despite the airline has announced future route to WDH since few years (https://www.travelnews.co.za/article/tu ... t-windhoek & https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/ ... priorities)

Since the covid if we see what LH Group is doing in Sub-Saharan Africa: it looks that Lufthansa** (the airline didn't resume Addis Ababa service) with Discover (new routes opened to Windhoek, Zanzibar, Mombasa, Victoria Falls) and Swiss Airlines (the airline didn't resume Nairobi / Dar Es Salaam service) with Edelweiss (new routes Mombasa, Windhoek, Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro back on the network) are now focus on leisure destinations in Africa, while Brussels Airlines is focusing on VFR destinations (more flights to Entebbe, Dakar, Kigali, Abidjan,...Nairobi back on the network).

https://www.airports.com.na/news/161/AI ... ISS-ROUTE/

** : LH resumed Cape Town Munich service.

[rwandan-flyer]

Welcome to the April edition of the AviaDev Insight Africa Connectivity update for 2025, hosted by Jon Howell, CEO and Founder of AviaDev Africa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C3wuuK ... el=AviaDev

This month's guests are:

Sean Mendis, Aviation Consultant. CONNECT WITH SEAN

Behramjee Ghadially, Aviation Consultant. CONNECT WITH BEHRAMJEE

Topics covered this month:

The impact of the Trump travel ban on Africa's airlines, with a deep dive into Ethiopian Airlines' next moves in the market

Kenya Airways and Qatar Airways announcement on 1st July and what it could mean, plus a brief discussion on the fleet and growth plan (more to come next month)

Airlink's order of 10 E2-195s, which start to arrive from September. How will they be used now the airline has applied for Cape Town - Lagos and Accra, plus Johannesburg to Mauritius and Zanzibar.

Air Cote d'Ivoire suspending routes to Casablanca and Johannesburg. The impact of this on SAA who serve Abidjan

Air Peace announcing new flights from Abuja to London Heathrow 4 x week from October. Will it work ?

Zambia Airways launched Lusaka- Harare

Africa World Airlines launched Ouagadougou 1 July. What does this mean for the Sahel region and AWA's network ?

ITA rumours around serving Abidjan and Lagos plus Zanzibar in Northern Hemisphere Winter

Air Tanzania's Johannesburg- Zanzibar schedule

If you enjoyed the episode, please share it with your network or leave us a review. All event sessions and the vodcast is available on the AviaDev YouTube Channel

[Homo Aeroportus]

Further to an agreement signed in 2023, Air Senegal and RAM Royal Air Maroc will start as from 21JUL25 to code share on flights to Montreal, Milano, Barcelona and Lyon via Casablanca.

H.A.

[rwandan-flyer]

Trump administration weighs adding 36 countries to travel ban, memo says

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump- ... 025-06-15/

In the bold countries served by Brussels Airlines:

"The Department of State is committed to protecting our nation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process," the official said.

The countries that could face a full or a partial ban if they do not address these concerns within the next 60 days are: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

It's too early to see the consequences however Ethiopian and Egytpair have already reduced their capacities on some US routes. Let's see what Royal Air Maroc will do. The impact for Brussels Airlines will probably not huge at least like for African airlines flying btw USA and Africa. They can still fill the planes to and from Africa with demand btw Africa and Canada and Africa and Europe. However let's see what United will do.

[sn26567]

Trump administration weighs adding 36 countries to travel ban, memo says

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump- ... 025-06-15/

In the bold countries served by Brussels Airlines:

"The Department of State is committed to protecting our nation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process," the official said.

The countries that could face a full or a partial ban if they do not address these concerns within the next 60 days are: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

It's strange to see the Democratic Republic of Congo on that list. Trump boasted a couple of weeks ago that he had a peace agreement signed between Congo and Rwanda. One might have thought that he would respect and have consideration for those two countries as a result.

The presence of Liberia on that list is even more surprising. It is a country founded by American slaves after their liberation. The President of Liberia was highly commended by Trump (especially for his excellent English!) on his visit to the White House last week.

But we all know that Trump is unpredictable...

[Conti764]

Trump administration weighs adding 36 countries to travel ban, memo says

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump- ... 025-06-15/

In the bold countries served by Brussels Airlines:

"The Department of State is committed to protecting our nation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process," the official said.

The countries that could face a full or a partial ban if they do not address these concerns within the next 60 days are: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

It's too early to see the consequences however Ethiopian and Egytpair have already reduced their capacities on some US routes. Let's see what Royal Air Maroc will do. The impact for Brussels Airlines will probably not huge at least like for African airlines flying btw USA and Africa. They can still fill the planes to and from Africa with demand btw Africa and Canada and Africa and Europe. However let's see what United will do.

On the return flight from KGL and EBB last week were a lot of Americans. If the travel ban is only onesided I don't think it will influence SN very match tbh...

[rwandan-flyer]

Welcome to the July edition of the AviaDev Insight Africa Connectivity update for 2025, hosted by Jon Howell, CEO and Founder of AviaDev Africa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RZ_Iza ... el=AviaDev

This month's guests are:

Sean Mendis, Aviation Consultant.

Behramjee Ghadially, Aviation Consultant.

Topics covered this month:

The latest in the FlySafair pilot strike saga

Virgin increasing capacity on LHR-LOS (London Heathrow - Lagos) from 26 October, deploying the 397 seater A350-1000. A good move or short term strategy?

Qatar Airways reducing Nigeria frequencies in W25 (Winter 2025). Why?

South African Airways' new route CPT-MRU (Cape Town - Mauritius) and the fallout from the restated accounts

FastJet Mozambique- the latest developments

FastJet to launch a new domestic route from Vic Falls to Bulawayo from 8th August 4 x week

DEEP DIVE: CDG-Africa (Paris Cdg) route performance of ET (Ethiopian Airlines) vs KQ (Kenya Airways)

TAAG Angola to launch Nairobi 3 x week from 1st Sept. What is the outlook?

Flightlink open a new service to Nairobi from Zanzibar - listen to the recent podcast with Munawer, the CEO here

Air india suspend Nairobi. Will it come back?

ASKY's new service to Nouakchott, Mauritania. Where can they go next? Listen to the recent podcast with Date, the Commercial Director here

If you enjoyed the episode, please like and subscribe!

[rwandan-flyer]

A great program, for Sep25

This month's guests are:

Sean Mendis, Aviation Consultant. CONNECT WITH SEAN

Behramjee Ghadially, Aviation Consultant. CONNECT WITH BEHRAMJEE

Topics covered this month: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS_DSx- ... el=AviaDev


Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines reporting a $1.05 Billion profit on $7.6 Billion revenue

Addis Ababa-Abuja going 10 weekly from 28OCT25

12th weekly Antananarivo, reducing Nosy Be from Jan-Mar, Victoria Seychelles reduction Jan-Mar.

4th daily Entebbe

Group CEO Mesfin Tasew to retire in 2026

------------------------------------

RwandAir

Rwandair report a $93m half-year loss

Kigali Mombasa Zanzibar 3x weekly route launching in December 2025

An additional A330 coming from QR

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Tanzania's new taxes + mandatory insurance and the potential impact on demand

Air Tanzania to launch Lagos from 13SEP25 3x weekly using a 737Max

Uganda Airlines report a $76m loss for 2024-5

Kenya Airways report a loss of $94m for the first half of 2025

Qatar to launch a 3rd daily Nairobi, Lagos back to 14x weekly, Johannesburg up to 18x, Cape Town 12x, upguage others like Casablanca

FlyNAS to launch Riyadh- Nairobi from 2 October, 3 x week

SAA to launch Gaborone flights in November, A330 wetlease from Hi-Fly

Proflight Zambia will launch flights 3 x week from Lusaka via Livingstone to Windhoek starting March 3 2026.

Airlink may suspend ticket sales in Mozambique and will increase JNB-BLZ flights to 6x weekly from October.

KLM - reduces Kigali and Entebbe from 7 to 3 weekly in NW25, Cape Town increasing 7 to 11 weekly (previously announced)

Air Cote D'Ivoire is taking delivery of an A330 on 4th September and has loaded ABidjan -CDG for sale

[rwandan-flyer]

Turkish Airlines may have the largest network in Africa, along with Ethiopian Airlines, but there are still countries that remain unserved.

This has been done for Guinea-Bissau, which will be served starting March 21, 2026, with two flights per week via Dakar.

There will therefore be three European airlines in Bissau: EuroAtlantic, TAP Air Portugal (which suspended for few years its flights 12 years ago following the trafficking of fake Turkish passports to smuggle Syrian refugees https://www.ch-aviation.com/news/24080- ... n-refugees). From Africa, Royal Air Maroc is the only big airline to serve Bissau.

https://havasosyalmedya-com.translate.g ... r_pto=wapp


The Turks have a strong presence in Guinea-Bissau. On Google Earth, you can see that work on the new terminal in Bissau is underway. The Turkish company Summa is behind the project: https://www.summa.com.tr/en/projects/os ... irport.htm

Cape Verde, Botswana, Zimbabwe, the Central African Republic, Namibia, Togo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, and Burundi remain. On some of these destinations, Turkish Airlines codeshares with Ethiopian Airlines via Addis Ababa or RwandAir via Kigali.

Well, I doubt there will ever be flights to Eswatini and Lesotho, but you never know. I'm a little surprised about Equatorial Guinea, Brazzaville (only Pointe Noire is served in the Republic of Congo via Libreville), Togo, and Burundi.

About the Comoros, I think the service is seasonal and not year-round, as is the case with Egyptair, which just closed its Moroni route.

[rwandan-flyer]

An interesting article from Jeune Afrique on China-Africa traffic. Some interesting data. https://www.jeuneafrique.com/1719512/ec ... e-afrique/

1.29 million passengers made the trip during the first half of 2025. This is more than during the first six months of 2019, but the increase is slight (3.61%), when they were 1.24 million.

Top 5 airlines carrying the most passengers between Africa and China for the first half of 2025. All data below is for the period January-June 2025 vs. January-June 2019:

Ethiopian Airlines: 354,213 passengers -1.54% vs. 2019. 1st in 2019
Egyptair: 151,679 passengers +52.09% vs. 2019. 4th in 2019
Qatar Airways: 150,713 passengers +7.11% vs. 2019. 3rd in 2019
Emirates Airlines: 139,518 passengers -35.36% vs. 2019. 2nd in 2019
Sichuan Airlines: 79,977 passengers +252.77% vs. 2019. 13th in 2019

Chinese (if we take the top 10) and African airlines (47% of market share)vare the big winners. Royal Air Maroc has carried more than 30,000 passengers since reopening its Beijing route, and Air Tranzania has carried over 22,000 passengers on its Guangzhou route. However, Air Mauritius has stopped its route to China, same thing for RwandAir (not specified in the article). Kenya Airways (-50% passengers and only one destination, Guangzhou via Bangkok)


There was some disruption in the Middle East, with a sharp drop from Saudi Airlines and Etihad, which reduced their presence in Africa. Saudia closed its Johannesburg route, and Etihad closed Lagos during the Covid-19 crisis, even though it was in the top 5.

Air France was the only European airline in the top 10 in 2019 (the China-Africa route via Europe in 2019 accounted for 3.9% of the market). AF disappeared from the top 10 due to a threefold decrease in its passenger numbers. The main reason:

the airline's failure to fly over Russia, which leads to longer flight times, explains the airline, adding that "these flows have been transferred to North America."

Note that some countries are "advantaged" by having either a non-stop route to China or several gateways with several international airports served by Qatar Airways, Emirates, or Ethiopian (Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, etc.). Demand may therefore be higher in some cities than in others. For example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lubumbashi has a higher demand for flights to China than for Kinshasa, which is the capital of the DRC.

However, there are significant drops in traffic compared to 2019. Here are the largest markets (there are 54 countries in Africa). I've compiled a top 5 for each region in Africa. Unsurprisingly, East Africa and North Africa are at the top. Central Africa is last.


North Africa (Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, Algeria)

Egypt: 306,536 pax +75.92% vs. 2019
Algeria: 95,349 pax -2.03% vs. 2019
Morocco: 78,106 pax +29.38% vs. 2019
Tunisia: 14,284 pax -12.97% vs. 2019
Libya: 7,726 pax +3,460.37% vs. 2019


East Africa (Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Tanzania, Uganda, Seychelles, Burundi, Rwanda):

Ethiopia: 99,382 pax +385.19% vs. 2019
Tanzania: 63,277 pax +65.73% vs. 2019
Kenya: 61,679 pax +3.57% vs. 2019
Uganda: 36,426 pax +31.2% vs. 2019
Rwanda: 10,268 pax -12.22% vs. 2019

Note that East Africa will be the fastest growing region in Africa. Annual growth of 4.1% with traffic of 411 million passengers in 20 years https://airlinergs.com/east-africa-set- ... says-iata/


Southern Africa (Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, Esau, Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius)

South Africa: 100,811 pax -25.06% vs. 2019
Zimbabwe: 26,001 pax +73.31% vs. 2019
Zambia: 21,103 pax -25.52% vs. 2019
Angola: 16,288 pax -50.17% vs. 2019
Mauritius: 11,274 pax -69.59% vs. 2019


West Africa (Mauritania, Cape Verde, Nigeria, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Mali, Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger):

Nigeria: 72,547 pax -18.47% vs. 2019
Ghana: 28,357 pax -3.57% vs. 2019
Guinea Conakry: 30,843 pax +38.15% vs. 2019
Ivory Coast: 16,047 pax -4.91% vs. 2019
Senegal: 12,137 pax +3% vs. 2019


Central Africa (Chad, DR Congo, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea):

DR Congo: 26,003 pax -27.13% vs. 2019
Cameroon: 18,849 pax -4.61% vs. 2019
Republic of Congo: 9,250 pax +7% vs. 2019
Gabon: 6,089 pax -37.97% vs. 2019
Equatorial Guinea: 2,488 pax -68.13% vs. 2019

[Homo Aeroportus]

Thank you for your interesting analysis RwandAn-Flyer.
I was in transit at ADD on Friday and at some point in time there were more Chinese than Pax from other ethnic origins at Gate 12, the Cloud Nine boarding gate !

Greetings from LUN.

H.A.

[rwandan-flyer]

Your Welcome HA. In deed China Africa is a bread and butter for Ethiopian Airlines

An interesting document for you from ENAC (French National School of Civil Aviation) concerning air traffic in Africa in 2024. Here, they've added Middle Eastern airports, which reduces the number of African airports in the ranking.

Furthermore, as mentioned in the article, some data is missing: Port Louis and Luanda should normally be in the ranking. However, as is often the case, Central African airports are missing. I couldn't find precise figures for Douala*, Kinshasa, and Libreville, which seem to me to be the airports with over 1,000,000 passengers.

Countries included: Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Togo, Cape Verde, Uganda, and Rwanda.

Cameroon:

Cameroonian airports will handle 1.77 million passengers in 2024, an increase of 5.6% compared to 2023, according to the Cameroon Airports (ADC) activity report. This growth, the strongest since the health crisis, is mainly driven by international connections, which now account for nearly 60% of traffic. https://www.investiraucameroun.com/tran ... ernational

Gabon:

Air transport: 1.5 million passengers in the first 9 months of 2024 https://insidenews241.com/transport-aer ... s-de-2024/

Johannesburg lost its number one status following South African Airways' problems. Cairo is now well ahead. Addis Ababa is 3rd.

In parentheses, the rankings would be if these airports were in Europe to give you an idea. Most African airports are among the top 100 in Europe. Obviously, some African airports have small differences (+ or - 100,000 passengers), so sometimes they are 2 the same rank in Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... _in_Europe. For small airports outside the top 100, I compared them with airports of the same size (within a few hundred thousand passengers of gap). I have only recent for Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, and the Nordic countries, there will be some duplicates.

North Africa:

Cairo (18th between Athens and Zurich),
Hurgadha (56th instead of Milan Linate between Krakow and Faro),
Casablanca (50th instead of Lyon between Catania and Bologna),
Marrakech (59th instead of Ibiza between Charleroi and Heraklion),
Algiers (59th instead of Ibiza between Charleroi and Heraklion),
Tunis (69th instead of Tirana between Reykjavik and Sofia),
Sharm El Sheikh (74th instead of Riga between Eindhoven and Bordeaux),
Agadir (almost equivalent to Dortmund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... in_Germany),
Tangier (almost equivalent to Compostela https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... s_in_Spain),
Marsa Alam (almost equivalent to Leipzig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... in_Germany),
Djerba (almost equivalent to Leipzig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... in_Germany),
Borg El Arab (almost equivalent to Asturias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... in_Germany),
Fez (almost equivalent to Asturias (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... s_in_Spain),
Monastir (almost equivalent to Girona-Costa Brava https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... s_in_Spain),
Rabat (almost equivalent to Girona-Costa Brava https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... s_in_Spain)
Endhifa (almost equivalent to Jersey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_b ... ed_Kingdom)

West Africa:

Lagos (74th, replacing Riga between Eindhoven and Bordeaux),
Abuja (84th, replacing Katowice and between Paris Beauvais and Gothenburg),
Accra (almost equivalent to London City),
Dakar (almost equivalent to Trosmo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... _countries),
Abidjan (nearly equivalent to Belfast City or Aberdeen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_b ... ed_Kingdom),
Lome (nearly equivalent to Girona-Costa Brava https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... s_in_Spain),
Sal (nearly equivalent to Jersey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_b ... ed_Kingdom)

East Africa:

Addis Ababa (47th, Venice between Birmingham and Marseille),
Nairobi (60th, Heraklion between Stuttgart and Ibiza),
Dar Es Salaam (nearly equivalent to Belfast City or Aberdeen) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_b ... ed_Kingdom),
Zanzibar almost equivalent to Leipzig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... in_Germany),
Entebbe almost equivalent to Leipzig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... in_Germany),
Kigali (almost equivalent to Jersey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_b ... ed_Kingdom)

South Africa :

Johannesburg (32nd between Warsaw and Geneva),
The Cape (51st at the same rank that Lyon),
Durban (94 th instead of Turin between Hanover and Vilinus),
Port Elizabeth (almost equivalent to Girona-Costa Brava https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... s_in_Spain),
Lusaka (almost equivalent to Jersey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_b ... ed_Kingdom)

https://fracs.aero/2025/04/29/air-trans ... pril-2025/

[rwandan-flyer]

Two parts this month

In this episode, we discuss the latest developments in African aviation routes and fleets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-C7Gv1WkXM

Topics covered include the arrival of Embraer's E2 aircraft in the Airlink fleet and its strategic importance, the growing expansion of Middle Eastern airlines' routes to Nairobi, operational changes at Kenya Airways, Air Tanzania's new routes to Accra and Lagos, and Etihad's planned seasonal arrival in Zanzibar.

01:33 Meet the guests: Sean and Behramjee
03:15 Airlink's new Embraer E2 fleet
09:04 Speculation on Airlink's route expansion
27:05 Flydubai launches Nairobi and a general discussion on Middle Eastern carriers in East Africa
37:03 Kenya Airways' existential crisis and strategic challenges
40:15 Kenya Airways' new route
42:14 Air Tanzania's new route to Accra
49:36 Ethiopian Airlines dominates Zanzibar with Etihad's arrival in 2026
01:04:19 RwandAir replaces the Dash Q400 with a B737-800 on its future Kigali-Mombasa-Zanzibar service
01:05:30 Conclusion and preview of Part 2

Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b2mAt1qpDA&t=245s

00:18 Deep Dive: New York and the African Market (spoiler alert: Casablanca, Accra, Cairo and Lagos are among the biggest markets)


33:24 Turkish Airlines' Major Order from Boeing (Will Turkish Airlines bring more capacities to Africa ?)**

40:51 Ethiopian Airlines Schedule Update

45:41 Malawi Airlines Fleet Expansion

47:16 Delivery of TAAG's New 787 (Angola)

49:25 Acquisition of United Nigeria's Fleet

** Interesting details: Turkish Airlines largely fills its sub-Saharan African flights with flights to Europe (a big part with secondary cities), and very little with North America or Asia. They provide an interesting example with Namibia and the fact that Qatar Airways has closed its route. QR mainly carries passengers on the Asia-Africa route, a fairly weak market for Namibia. But Turkish Airlines could succeed in Turkey thanks to its network in Europe.

[rwandan-flyer]

TAP Air Portugal plans to open new routes to Brazil and Africa. I'll focus on Africa.

Business Insider Africa article:

A major European airline is considering expansion into African and Brazilian markets amid privatization https://africa.businessinsider.com/loca ... ve/fkd8lmj

TAP has several advantages:

The location of its Lisbon hub relative to North America and Europe

Its fleet, with its A321LRs, can reach as far as East or Central Africa. The A330Neo seems a bit too large for some markets, except for South Africa and Zanzibar. TAP was supposed to restart flights to South Africa (Cape Town https://www.tourismupdate.com/article/n ... bon-flight), but COVID-19 hit and Hiffly is offering flights between Lisbon and Zanzibar by A340 on behalf of a tour operator (https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/z ... on-4321454)

Historically, TAP has had a very good network on Africa, mainly to West and Central Africa. When I was flying back and forth between Montpellier (France, where I lived from the late 1980s to the early 2000s) and Paris-Orly-Montpellier with Air France or Air Inter, TAP flights departed from the same location (Hall 1 at Orly West), and there were Africans flying to Africa via LIS.

An interesting point: TAP served Roissy CDG very briefly during some period, like Iberia. IB offers 3 flights per day to CDG now. Air Europa left Roissy before Covid and Vueling closed its CDG base for the 2nd time. The Iberian airlines are putting almost all their capacity at Orly, not CDG.

After two weaknesses, in my opinion:

Point-to-point demand is not strong, so the airline will absolutely have to focus on connections.

TAP has made a few returns to Africa: Abidjan, Conakry, Lome, and it has had to close its routes, certainly not helped by Covid.

But I still see potential for TAP, given that Iberia seems to have closed the door to expansion in Africa, despite having stated that it wanted to expand in Africa with its A321neo fleet.

2017: Iberia planea usar sus nuevos A321neo para volar a África. https://www-preferente-com.translate.go ... r_pto=wapp

It's difficult to guess some of the destinations, although I don't think it would be surprising to see Johannesburg again, or Cape Town, Lagos, Nairobi, or Zanzibar. After some surprising destinations Entebbe, Kigali**, Douala or Bamako (which had flights with Spanair in 2011 https://www-tourmag-com.translate.goog/ ... r_pto=wapp) to take advantage of the absence of Air France

** The new Kigali airport project is a Qatari-Rwandan-Portuguese project

[rwandan-flyer]

Emirates: Towards a possible service to Libreville

On August 7, 2025, the Director General of the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC Gabon), Major General Éric Tristan Franck MOUSSAVOU, met with a delegation from Emirates, led by its Representative for Africa, Mr. Paulos LEGESSE, as part of preliminary discussions relating to a possible opening of a line to Libreville.

https://anacgabon-org.translate.goog/em ... r_pto=wapp

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Indigo has added African destinations that didn't appear on the website several months ago. These are apparently codeshares with Turkish Airlines for the moment, but it's limited for some destinations. For others, bookings are blocked. It wouldn't be surprising to see some of these destinations served directly by Indigo in a few years.

Currently in Africa, Indigo serves the Seychelles, Mauritius, and Nairobi.

Here are the destinations that appear:

Accra (Ghana), Lagos (Nigeria), Abuja (Nigeria), Casablanca (Morocco), Entebbe (Uganda), Cape Town (South Africa), Johannesburg (South Africa), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Harare (Zimbabwe), Lusaka (Zambia), Cairo (Egypt), and Kigali (Rwanda).

Example:

Layover details

JNB-IST
Flight 6E 4326. 6E Indigo's IATA code
Aircraft 32B (well, it's not an A320, but an A350^^)

19:10

Johannesburg (TA)
09:55

06:05

Istanbul

13:55 layover Istanbul
Change of aircraft

IST-BOM
Flight 6E 18.
Aircraft B777

20:00

Istanbul
06:15

04:45

Mumbai (T2)

[rwandan-flyer]

Unsurprisingly, Air Cote d'Ivoire wants its share of traffic rights with France. Ivory Coast is currently blocking the implementation of Air France and Corsair's winter schedule to Abidjan. Technically, starting next week, if the problem is not resolved, Air France and Corsair will not be able to operate their winter schedule as planned.

The reason given is that there are still too many flights for French airlines: two per day for Air France, one for Corsair. Air France and Corsair refuse to reduce their number of flights.

It remind me the situation with Air Senegal, which forced Corsair to leave. Although, in the Air Senegal scenario, Corsair would have used the rights of Senegalese airlines to serve Dakar.

Not in the article. But Negotiations are also ongoing between Cameroon and France, with Camair Co., which would like to relaunch its route to Paris, but at the same time, Corsair would like to open a route to Cameroon. This therefore requires renegotiation of the agreements, as Air France likely has a large share of the rights on the French side.

https://www.7info.ci/air-cote-divoire-c ... %E2%80%AF/ (translation via a link doesn't work)