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Even though Africa is the second largest continent by size and population, its airlines account for only about 6% of the world's air traffic, as most of it is being carried out by foreign air lines. [1]
This is a list of largest airlines in Africa . It is ranked by number of transported passengers.
| Ranks | Country | Airline / Holding | '22 | '21 | '20 | '19 | '18 | '17 | '16 | '15 | '14 | '13 | '12 | '11 | '10 | '09 | '08 | '07 | '06 | Passenger Fleet | Current Destinations | Sources | Alliance / Association |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ethiopia | Ethiopian Airways 1 | 9.7 | 9.9 | 9.2 | 9.3 | 8.8 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 8.9 | 8.3 | 7.2 | 7 | 13 | [2] [3] [4] | Star Alliance | |||||
| 2 |  South Africa | South African Airlines 2 | 8.68 | 5.78 | 9.66 | 12.10 | 10.63 | 8.76 | 7.60 | 7.39 | 6.91 | 5.92 | 4.64 | 3.73 | 3.15 | 2.81 | 2.50 | 146 [5] | 155 | [2] [6] [7] | Star Alliance | ||
| 3 |  Egypt | EgyptAir 3 | 8.5 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 8.2 | 11.8 | 8.3 | 8.0 | 8.7 | 7.9 | 8.2 | 7.8 | 78 | 102 [8] | [2] [9] [10] | Star Alliance | ||||||
| 4 |  Tunisia | Tunisair 4 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 30 | 44 [11] | [12] | |||||||||
| 5 |  Morocco | Royal Air Maroc 5 | 3.4 | 2.2 | 7.4 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 6.8 | 6.1 | 6.3 | 5.8 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 6.1 | 52 | 89 [13] | [2] [14] [15] | OneWorld | |||||
| 6 | South Africa | FlySafair | 3.0 | 34 | 15 [16] | [17] | |||||||||||||||||
| 7 |  Nigeria | Air Peace | 2.80 | 2.30 | 29 | 20 | [18] | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 |  Kenya | Kenya Airways 8 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 4.4 | 4.8 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 34 | 44 [19] | [20] | SkyTeam | |||||
| 9 |  Algeria | Air Algérie | 1.9 | 6.6 | 6.6 | 6.3 | 6.1 | 5.5 | 5.2 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 56 | 78 [21] | [22] [23] [24] [25] [23] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] | ||||
| 10 |  Mauritius | Air Mauritius 10 | 1.724 | 1.695 | 1.603 | 1.499 | 1.370 | 1.330 | 1.297 | 1.325 | 1.295 | 1.133 | 1.192 | 1.311 | 1.177 | 12 | 14 [34] | [35] | Vanilla Alliance | ||||
| 11 |  Libya | Libyan Airlines | 1.2 | 14 | 22 | [36] |
O. R. Tambo International Airport is an international airport serving the twin cities of Johannesburg and the main capital of South Africa, Pretoria. It is situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel for South Africa and since 2020, it is Africa's second busiest airport, with a capacity to handle up to 28 million passengers annually. The airport serves as the hub for South African Airways. The airport handled over 21 million passengers in 2017.
Egyptair is the state-owned flag carrier of Egypt. The airline is headquartered at Cairo International Airport, its main hub, operating scheduled passenger and freight services to 81 destinations in Africa, Europe, Asia, and The Americas. Egyptair is a member of Star Alliance.
Ethiopian Airlines, formerly Ethiopian Air Lines (EAL), is the flag carrier of Ethiopia, and is wholly owned by the country's government. EAL was founded on 21 December 1945 and commenced operations on 8 April 1946, expanding to international flights in 1951. The firm became a share company in 1965 and changed its name from Ethiopian Air Lines to Ethiopian Airlines.
Air Algérie SpA is the flag carrier of Algeria, with its head office in the El-Djazair office block in Algiers. With flights operating from Houari Boumedienne Airport, Air Algérie operates scheduled international services to 39 destinations in 28 countries in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, as well as domestic services to 32 airports. As of December 2013, Air Algérie was 100% owned by the Government of Algeria.
Royal Air Maroc is the Moroccan national carrier, as well as the country's largest airline, ranking among the largest in Africa.
Precision Air Services Plc is a Tanzanian airline based at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam. The airline operates scheduled passenger services to Nairobi and Comoros; and to various airports and airstrips in Tanzania. Kenya Airways owns 41.23% of the airline.
Madagascar Airlines is an airline based in Antananarivo, Madagascar. It is the flag carrier of Madagascar; it operates services to Europe, Asia and neighbouring African and Indian Ocean island destinations, from its main base, Ivato International Airport in Antananarivo. It also operates an extensive domestic network.
Air Burkina SA is the national airline of Burkina Faso, operating scheduled services from its main base at Ouagadougou Airport to one domestic destination, Bobo-Dioulasso, as well as regional international services to Togo, Benin, Mali, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Ghana. From 2001 to 2017, the airline was majority owned by an AKFED/IPS consortium, but is now back in government ownership, with reports that a new investor is being sought.
Air Botswana Corporation is Botswana's state-owned national flag carrier, with its headquarters located in Gaborone. It operates scheduled domestic and regional flights from its main base at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport. Air Botswana has been loss-making for several years, and there have been various attempts to privatise the company, and frequent changes to the corporation's management and board, so far without reducing the losses.
TAAG Angola Airlines E.P. is a state-owned airline and flag carrier of Angola. Based in Luanda, the airline operates domestic services within Angola, medium-haul services in Africa and long-haul services to Brazil, Cuba, and Portugal. The airline was originally set up by the government as DTA – Divisão dos Transportes Aéreos in 1938, rechristened TAAG Angola Airlines in 1973, and gained flag carrier status in 1975. It is now a member of both the International Air Transport Association and the African Airlines Association.
The largest airlines in the world can be measured in several ways. As of 2023, Delta Air Lines was the largest by revenue, assets, market capitalization, fleet size and brand value; American Airlines Group by passengers carried and employees; FedEx Express by freight tonne-kilometers; Southwest Airlines by routes; and Turkish Airlines by countries served.
Afriqiyah Airways is a Libyan state-owned airline based in Tripoli, Libya. It was established in 2001 and operates both domestic and international flights. The airline's main hub is Tripoli International Airport (TIP), and it serves a wide range of destinations across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
LAM - Mozambique Airlines, S. A. or Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique, Ltd., operating as LAM Mozambique Airlines, is the flag carrier of Mozambique. The airline was established by the Portuguese colonial government of Mozambique in August 1936 as a charter carrier named DETA - Direcção de Exploração de Transportes Aéreos, and was renamed in 1980 following reorganisation. LAM Mozambique Airlines is based in Maputo, and has its hub at Maputo International Airport. It operates scheduled services in Southern Africa. The company is a member of the International Air Transport Association, and of the African Airlines Association since 1976.
Tassili Airlines is an Algerian passenger airline, based in Algiers, owned by Sonatrach, the national state-owned oil company of Algeria.
Douala International Airport is an international airport located in Douala, the largest city in Cameroon and the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region. With its 4 terminals and an average of 1.5 million passengers and 50,000 tonnes of freight per year, it is the country's busiest airport. The airport is managed and partly owned (34%) by the company Aeroport du Cameroon (ADC) which also manages all other 13 airports on Cameroonian soil.
Aviapartner, whose origins date back to 1949 under the name of Herfurth Air Services to become 'Belgavia' in the late 1960s, is a Belgian company that provides ground handling services at 72 airports in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands and recently in South-Africa. Among the airports served are Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan, Düsseldorf, Rome, Nice, Toulouse and Málaga.
Nile Air is an Egyptian airline based at Cairo International Airport that operates scheduled services to destinations in Egypt and the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, Southern Europe, Asia and Africa. Nile Air is the largest private airline in Egypt and second only to Egyptair. It is a full-service carrier that operates scheduled services, using a fleet of Airbus A320-200s & Airbus A321-200s. In addition to operations from its hub at Cairo International Airport, the airline operates a smaller base from Alexandria's Borg El Arab Airport.
RwandAir Limited is the flag carrier airline of Rwanda, operating from its main hub at Kigali International Airport. The airline serves 25 destinations across various regions, including East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
FlySafair is an international low-cost airline based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is a subsidiary of Safair and flies to 14 destinations in Sub-Saharan Africa. The company slogan is For The Love Of Flying.
