Africa's Top 10 Airlines: 8.08 Million Seats in August 2026

In August 2026, the 10 largest airlines operating in Africa provided a total of 8.08 million scheduled departing seats, which accounted for approximately 30% of Africa's total scheduled capacity of 27.3 million seats, reflecting an 8.4% increase from August 2025. Air Peace, Nigeria's largest airline, fell out of the top 10 after being displaced by Kenya Airways.

Ethiopian Airlines had the highest scheduled departing seat capacity with 2.19 million seats, marking a 10.9% increase from 1.97 million seats in August 2025. Safair ranked second with 984,700 seats, although it experienced a 1.1% decline from the previous year.

Europe remained the dominant international aviation market for Africa, with 10.8 million scheduled international airline seats, representing 50.35% of Africa's total international capacity. Nigeria recorded the fastest growth among the top 10 African aviation markets, with a 37% year-on-year increase in scheduled airline seat capacity to 1.22 million seats.