Local air travel is picking up in Africa, with several carriers now reporting more traffic on domestic routes than on intra-African ones, as multiple fiscal and geopolitical challenges continue to suppress continental air transport.

The African Airlines Association (Afraa) reports that in 2024, 28.4 percent of passengers carried by reporting member carriers were on domestic flights, up slightly from 28 percent in 2023.

For the first time, the airlines recorded more passengers on domestic routes than on intra-African ones, whose share fell to 26.7 percent from 32 percent in 2023, while intercontinental passengers rose to 44.9 percent from 40 percent.

According to aviation data firm OAG, all African airlines ferried 98 million passengers in 2024, a 15 percent increase from 85 million in 2023, and growth is expected to continue, reaching 115 million this year.

Intercontinental routes remain the most dominant and fastest-growing for the majority of African carriers, but domestic routes are slowly gaining pace as intra-African routes continue to be hampered by taxes and visa restrictions.

The number of domestic passengers grew by about 200,000 to 18.7 million in 2024 from 18.5 million, while intra-African passengers declined sharply to 17.6 million from 21.2 million in 2023.

Experts, however, estimate that the actual number of domestic passengers is likely higher, as some primarily domestic carriers, such as South Africa’s Safair, did not report figures this year.

Other carriers, including Nigeria’s Air Peace, Ghana’s Africa World Airlines (AWA), and several players from Kenya, which jointly account for almost half of domestic air travel, were also not included in the tally.

Many contend that domestic air travel is the silent driver of the African aviation industry, as most carriers continue to struggle with challenges restricting intra-Africa travel.

“It’s not the splashy orders for Boeings and Airbuses at the Dubai Air Show, but rather second-hand turboprops and regional jets that are driving local air travel in Africa.”Globally, Boeing and Airbus have seen strong demand for new planes this year, with hundreds of new orders placed by airlines worldwide. At the recently concluded Dubai Air Show, Ethiopian Airlines, for instance, ordered six new Airbuses and 11 new Boeing narrow-bodies.

In its latest Commercial Market Outlook, Boeing projects that, unlike their regional counterparts, African airlines will demand more narrow-body short-haul planes than larger ones, driven by growth in domestic and regional markets compared with intercontinental routes.

Over the next 20 years, Boeing projects African carriers will expand their fleets from the current 715 aircraft to between 965 and 1,680. A vast majority of the new planes (76 percent) will be single-aisle aircraft used largely for short-haul domestic and regional flights.“The potential of Africa lies within. If someone can offer safe, reliable, and affordable service at the right price point, they essentially have an infinitely large market to capture,” argued Mr Mendis.“The trouble is that the hidden costs – taxes, infrastructure, security, logistics, among others – make that impossible for now, other than in small pockets and niches.”

Its domestic passengers rose by 573,000, or 18 percent, to 3.8 million, accounting for 21.8 percent of all passengers over the period.

Jambojet, the Kenyan flag carrier’s low-cost subsidiary that operates largely within the country, increased its domestic traffic by 3 percent, or 40,000, to 1.234 million from 1.194 million in 2023. Its total passengers rose to 1.257 million on the back of a slight increase in regional travellers.

The airline operates only two international routes, to Goma and Zanzibar, from Nairobi.

The Goma route is not operational due to the closure of the airport following the capture of the city by M23 rebels earlier in the year.

Other carriers in the region did not record similar growth in domestic traffic. Kenya Airways’ numbers dipped marginally by 5,000 to 618,000, Precision Air’s fell by 26,000 to 240,000, while RwandAir saw flat growth at 22,000, according to Afraa data.

Air Tanzania and Ugandan Airlines did not report their performance this year.

Meanwhile, intra-African air travel is in decline, with the sharpest drop in a year recorded in 2024, forcing carriers to rely primarily on revenue from intercontinental routes.

Allan Kilavuka, Kenya Airways’ CEO and current chair of Afraa, believes this is due to slow implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market, launched in 2018 to liberalise aviation on the continent and reduce costs.“Africa has many small national airlines which are competing in a fragmented market,” he told journalists at a briefing last year.

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