Africa's top 10 airlines fly 8.08 million seats in August, Air Peace falls out

Africa's 10 largest airlines scheduled 8.08 million departing seats in August 2026, about 30% of the continent's total capacity of 27.3 million seats. Total African capacity rose 8.4% year-on-year, according to OAG data.

Nigeria's Air Peace dropped out of the top 10 in August. Kenya Airways took the 10th spot it held in July.

Top carriers by capacity

Ethiopian Airlines led with 2.19 million seats, up 10.9% from 1.97 million in August 2025. Safair followed with 984,700 seats, down 1.1% from 995,900. EgyptAir recorded 922,600 seats, up 8.1% from 853,200.

Royal Air Maroc had 868,100 seats, up 13.2% from 767,100. Air Algerie grew fastest among the top 10, rising 16.8% to 825,900 seats from 706,900. Airlink posted 560,700 seats, up 6.5%, and Ryanair had 506,100 seats, up 7.5%.

Emirates recorded 430,200 seats, up 6.4% from 404,400. Transavia.com France carried 419,300 seats, up 10.4%, while Kenya Airways was the smallest with 373,700 seats, down 1.7% from 380,300.

Europe still dominates Africa's international routes

Europe accounted for 10.8 million scheduled international seats from Africa in August 2026. That is 50.35% of Africa's 21.5 million international seats, with capacity up 6.6% year-on-year.

The Middle East was second with 4.93 million seats, or 22.9% of international capacity, up 8.1%. Europe and the Middle East together supplied 15.75 million seats, over 73% of all international capacity.

Intra-Africa international seats stood at 4.53 million, up 10%, representing 21.1% of the total. Asia Pacific had 700,000 seats and the Americas 520,000 seats, or 3.3% and 2.4% respectively. International services made up 79% of Africa's total capacity, while domestic services contributed 5.8 million seats, up 11%.

Nigeria leads country growth

Nigeria was Africa's fastest-growing major aviation market in August. Scheduled capacity rose 37% year-on-year to 1.22 million seats, an addition of 330,700 seats. Domestic capacity jumped 42.6% to 907,600 seats, adding 271,000 seats.

Egypt remained Africa's largest country market with 3.2 million seats, up 12.1%. South Africa had 2.34 million seats and Morocco 2.21 million. South Africa's domestic market was the continent's biggest at 1.6 million seats.

Domestic capacity grew 44% in Congo and 25.2% in Egypt, but fell 11.2% in Kenya. Among airports, Lagos Murtala Muhammed recorded the strongest growth, up 25.6% year-on-year. Cairo remained the busiest airport with 1.85 million seats, followed by Addis Ababa with 1.25 million and Johannesburg with 1.15 million. Hurghada grew second-fastest, up 18.6%.

For Nigeria, Air Peace's exit from the top 10 signals intense competition on African routes. But the broader picture is positive: fast-expanding capacity at Lagos and across Nigeria's domestic market points to rising travel demand and stronger aviation activity for businesses and consumers.