Why is it so difficult (and crazy expensive) to fly within Africa?

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Why is it so difficult (and crazy expensive) to fly within Africa?<br>Thinking through the economics and politics of connectivity in a vast Continent

Ken Opalo<br>Jul 16, 2026

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I: Intra-African air travel is insanely expensive (and yet African airlines barely make any profits)

Over the last year I’ve visited several cities in East, West, Southern, and North Africa; and let’s just say that it’s insanely expensive to travel by air within Africa. In addition, the connections often don’t make much sense (only 19% of intra-African connections have direct flights). For example, to fly to Rabat from Nairobi my best connection was through Paris. While there has been tremendous improvement with regard to intra-Africa visa waivers, a lot more needs to be done to ease costs and increase efficiencies in the regional aviation market. Consider this story from Bloomberg:<br>A 45-minute flight from Ghana to neighboring Lagos can cost $600. Flights to Dakar,Senegal, require a full day of travel with a four-hour layover in Abidjan, in Côte d’Ivoire. A roundtrip fare to Casablanca is about $1,800, while discount carriers reach the city from Spain for as little as €50($57). That’s without factoring in the frequent delays and breakdowns of small aircraft of varying quality.

What explains this? Lots of reasons. Bad infrastructure (especially on air navigation); high taxation per ticket (including airport facility fees and navigation charges); mismanagement of airlines (especially those SOEs operated as prestige flag carriers); blocked funds (when countries prevent airlines from repatriating earnings); high cost of capital (no doubt impacted by sovereign credit worthiness); maintenance and supply chain pressures (African airlines’ planes tend to be 5 years older than the global average — which means less fuel efficiency, higher frequency of maintenance, and costly aircraft downtime and delays); and low volumes (a function of economic under-development and little intra-African economic integration).<br>That’s before we even get into the fact that it’s mighty hard to run a successful airline anywhere in the world. Yet even with that it mind, the comparative data suggests that African economies are leaving a whole of cash on table.<br>This is plainly on account of bad policies borne of a lack of strategic awareness and related anti-development interest group politics. The inability to effectively coordinate on aviation policy across the Continent is yet another example of Pan-Africanism as summitry and protocols, and little more (and why we need to reconceptualize the operationalization of Pan-Africanism).<br>A combination of policy failures and industry economics forces African airlines to have very tight margins and to pass the high cost of doing business to customers. The IATA provides a useful summary:<br>Fuel prices: +17% higher, Taxes and charges: +12–15% higher, Air navigation charges: +10%, Maintenance, insurance, and capital costs: +6–10%.<br>…. Of the $41 billion in global net profit forecast for 2026 (3.9% margin), African carriers are expected to generate just $200 million profit, representing a 1.0% margin—the lowest of all regions. This equates to $1.3 in profit per passenger, compared to a global average of $7.9. [The average for the Middle East’s airlines is $28.60].

Source: IATA<br>Despite all this, Africa (as a region) is projected to see 4.1% average annual growth rates over the next 20 years. That is massive growth, even before the region’s economies implement the reforms needed to make the aviation sector work better. Air travel simply must grow on Continent as its population pushes towards 3 billion over 30m square kilometers (more than three times the size of the United States).

The aviation sector in Africa is projected to record steady growth over the next two decades — in terms of both passengers and cargo. Source: IATA<br>Full implementation of commonsense policies (like SAATM) would reduce fares by 35%, and increase traffic by 51% to 141%. The IATA actually nails it when it comes to what African policymakers need to do to improve the aviation sector:<br>Recognize aviation as a strategic economic enabler—not a revenue source—and avoid excessive taxes and charges.

Invest in efficient, scalable infrastructure without passing unsustainable costs to airlines and travelers.

Facilitate market access and competition by advancing the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision and SAATM.

Improve affordability and strengthen connectivity to unlock wider economic and social benefits.

To these four I’d add one more recommendation: African...