Africa’s top 10 airlines account for 8.08 million seats in August

The 10 largest carriers operating in Africa accounted for 8.08 million scheduled departing seats in August 2026, highlighting the concentration of airline capacity among the largest operators in the African aviation market.

Nairametrics arrived at this figure by summing the scheduled departing seat capacity of the 10 largest airlines operating in Africa, according to OAG’s August 2026 aviation data for the African market.

The combined capacity represents about 30% of Africa’s total scheduled capacity of 27.3 million seats in August 2026, which increased by 8.4% compared with August 2025.

Nigeria’s largest airline, Air Peace, dropped out of Africa’s top 10 airlines in August after Kenya Airways displaced it from the 10th position it held in July.

What the data is saying

Ethiopian Airlines had the largest scheduled departing seat capacity among carriers operating in Africa, with 2.19 million seats in August 2026, up 10.9% from 1.97 million seats recorded in August 2025. Safair ranked second with 984,700 seats, although its capacity declined by 1.1% from 995,900 seats a year earlier.

• EgyptAir recorded 922,600 seats, representing an 8.1% increase from 853,200 seats in August 2025.
• Royal Air Maroc recorded 868,100 seats, up 13.2% from 767,100 seats in August 2025.
• Air Algerie recorded the strongest year-on-year growth among the top 10, with capacity rising 16.8% to 825,900 seats from 706,900 seats in August 2025.
• Airlink recorded 560,700 seats, an increase of 6.5% from 526,300 seats, while Ryanair had 506,100 seats, up 7.5% year-on-year.
• Emirates recorded 430,200 seats, representing a 6.4% increase from 404,400 seats in August 2025, while Transavia.com France recorded 419,300 seats, up 10.4% from 379,900 seats.
• Kenya Airways was the smallest among the top 10 by August 2026 capacity, with 373,700 seats, down…