A brief overview of the airline market in Africa
The current state of the Airliner sector in Africa and why the ocean carriers are making their entrance a game changer
Africa is the continent with the lowest number of air passengers per year. It represents only around 2% of global traffic, including passengers and cargo.
In 2010, Africa’s population reached one billion and will totalize over 2 billion in 2050. Despite representing 15% of the world’s population, the 230 airlines operating in Africa only operate around 5% of the world’s commercial passenger and cargo aircraft; the average age of the African airline fleet is the highest of all regions in the world (17 years compared to the world average which is around 12 years).
Considering that the distances between countries and cities in Africa are important and the limited road and rail networks which are often in bad condition, air transport appears to be the best option for freight, business, and tourism.
Air travel is primarily driven by international tourism in Africa. South Africa is the leader in terms of air passengers transported, with more than 25 million passengers carried per year, and is followed in the top 10 ranking by Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Mauritius. The main factor driving air travel to/from Africa is tourism and Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, and Tunisia are among the most popular tourist destination on the continent, so it is not surprising to see these countries in the top ranking of countries having the highest number of passengers.
The continent has slowly started to liberalise its intra-African air markets. Only 13 African countries have direct flights to more than 20 other African states. Kenya and Ethiopia lead the way, with direct flights to more than 30 other African countries, although this is perhaps not surprising given that Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways are among the three largest operators in sub-Saharan Africa.
With 19 billion dollars in cumulative losses between 2020 and 2021, the main African airlines have suffered significantly from the global health crisis. In 2022, three years after the beginning of the pandemic, despite the resumption of international travel, African air transport is struggling to regain its former results and volumes, however some companies like Ethiopian Airlines have the ambition to reach the top 10 world airline ranking.
The most efficient and reliable African airlines like Ethiopian Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, Air Senegal are facing fierce competition from non-African airlines like Emirates Airlines (EK), Turkish Airlines (TK) and Qatar Airways (QR) that are expanding their network in Africa. This situation has greatly impacted the air cargo divisions of African airlines.
Only a few African airlines participate in alliances with non-African carriers because few of them can attract capital investment, and therefore are unable to develop networks that are attractive to airline alliances. However, a number of African flag carriers have been able to join global airline alliance networks: South African Airways became a member of Star Alliance in 2006, Kenya Airways became an associate member of SkyTeam in 2007, and a full SkyTeam member in 2010. EgyptAir became a member of Star Alliance in 2008, and so did Ethiopian Airlines in 2011. Royal Air Maroc joined One World in 2020.
The African airlines top ranking
Every year since 1999, Skytrax, a British consulting organization, publishes its annual survey on customer satisfaction of airlines, the World’s Best Airlines. The survey rates the world’s airlines from best to worst in terms of customer experience. In total, more than 13 million passengers from over 100 different nationalities voted for their favorite company in a questionnaire on in-flight and airport services. Qatar Airways has reached number one position in the World’s Best Airlines ranking.
Ethiopian Airlines is consolidating its leadership on the continent, the top ten African airline ranking is dominated by the Ethiopian carrier since 2017. With the largest fleet on the continent totalizing 134 aircraft, but also the largest African network with 81 countries served and 127 destinations, Ethiopian Airlines recently moved up nine places globally and reached the 26th place in the World’s Best Airlines ranking (37th in 2021).
Royal Air Maroc (AT) flies to about 100 destinations worldwide and holds the 4th position in the best African airline rating, while South African Airways (SA) and Kenya Airways (KQ), the 2nd and 3rd place, Air Mauritius (MK) is ranked fifth for the second consecutive year and 82nd worldwide, while EgyptAir (MS) is the sixth airline in the region.
Rwandair (WB), is ranked in the seventh position and plans to join OneWorld alliance and expand its network in and outside Africa. In 2020, Qatar Airways purchased 49% of RwandAir.
All these airlines operate flights to destinations outside Africa and also Air Seychelles (HM), Air Algérie (AH), Tunisair (TU), TAAG Angola (DT), TACV (VR), Air Senegal (HC) but no West African airline appears in the top 10 list of the best African airlines.
There are also Low-cost companies that started to operate on the continent mainly in South Africa and East Africa like FlySafair, Fly540, Kulula Airlines, FastJet and this is regarded as a high growth potential sector.
The African airfreight market
Compared to 2017, Africa recorded the largest growth in cargo traffic in 2018 with 9.7%. The African continent represents only 2% of the international cargo volume or 2.5 million tons. Many airlines sell space for cargo on commercial flights. Cargo aircraft have not been a priority in Africa so far which can explain the low volume of air cargo today. However, one airline is doing well in this business segment: Ethiopian Airlines. It is the leading airline in Africa, including for cargo. Ethiopian Airlines exports the equivalent of $3 billion a year, mainly flowers, but imports five times that amount ($16 billion).
Import commodities into Africa by air freight are in majority manufactured goods, spare parts, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and foodstuff
Exported commodities from Africa by airfreight are in vast majority fruit and vegetables, fish, and flowers. 2/3 of air cargo flows from Africa to the northern hemisphere are indeed perishable and fresh products.
The Top-15 African cargo international airports
1. CAI Cairo Airport – Egypt
2. JNB Johannesburg OR Tambo Airport – South Africa
3. NBO Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta Airport – Kenya
4. ADD Addis Ababa Bole Airport – Ethiopia
5. LOS Lagos Airport – Nigeria
6. CMN Casablanca Mohammed V Airport – Morocco
7. EBB Entebbe Airport – Uganda
8. FIH Kinshasa Ndjili Airport – DR Congo
9. ACC Kotoka Accra Airport – Ghana
10. ALG Algiers Airport – Algeria
11. DSS Dakar Airport – Senegal
12. TUN Tunis-Carthage Airport – Tunisia
13. RUN La Réunion Roland Garros Airport – Réunion Island
14. ABJ Abidjan Felix Houphouet Airport – Côte d’Ivoire
15. BZV Brazzaville Airport – Republic of Congo
The shipping lines are the new players in the air freight market
With the high Ocean freight rates in today’s market and the important delays faced by all shipping lines and of course the port congestion in many countries, the airfreight option has become more attractive in terms of price and of course transit time which is much more reliable and noticeably short compared to maritime transport.
Many shipping lines are showing great interest in the airfreight market recently. Maersk and CMA started an air cargo division in 2021 and currently have a fleet of 15 aircraft for Maersk and CMA CGM plans to have 12 by 2026. MSC plans to start next year, beginning of 2023 following the delivery of the first of four MSC-branded Boeing 777-200F aircraft that will be operated by Atlas Air.
At ACS Africa Container Shipping we can assist you with air-freight solutions, we work closely with IATA accredited partners and many airlines in the world. This allows us to offer air cargo services from/to any country in the world with the help of our wide local agents’ network in the most efficient way. We offer transport solutions not only from airport A to airport B, but also transport from a pick-up address to the nearest airport in the country of origin and then transport to a delivery address from the nearest airport in the destination country, as well as customs clearance at airports of origin and destination upon request.
We are specialized in transport solutions from/to Africa but can of course assist you with air cargo solutions from/to other airports worldwide.
