Africa’s airlines push for one sky as carriers resume long-dormant routes

Angola’s flag carrier TAAG launched direct services between Luanda and Nairobi on September 1, establishing the first nonstop link between the two countries.

The inaugural flight of the Airbus A220-300 aircraft with a capacity for 137 passengers arrived with commercial passengers and a delegation of Angolan and Kenyan dignitaries in Nairobi from Luanda.

“The Luanda–Nairobi route will make Africa smaller, more connected, and more competitive,” Kenya Association of Travel Agents chief executive Officer, Nicanor Sabula told journalist when the airline touched down in Nairobi.

This is the latest direct flights launch in Africa that adds to a growing list of similar services across the continent that not only connects flights from a single region but also inter regional.

“This connection empowers intra-Africa mobility, leveraging regional integration and greater intercontinental connectivity from both the Luanda and Nairobi hubs,” said the African Airlines Association in a statement.

A new report by aircraft manufacturer, Embraer, records more than 70 African city pairs that went from unserved to served with direct flights between 2014 and 2024. According to the report titled, Connectivity Africa, the industry’s expansion reflects pent-up demand.

“For markets where traffic is very low, the stimulation resulting from the introduction of a direct flight is very high. This analysis supports data-driven decision-making and helps prioritize route launches with the highest potential return on investment,” said authors of the report.

During the launch of TAAG’s direct flights to Nairobi, Kenya Tourism Board acting Chief Executive Officer, Allan Njoroge said Kenya has been among the first to benefit from the revival of intra-African connectivity.

Kenya’s tourism board he disclosed has made a strategic focus on targeting African markets to grow Kenya’s tourism numbers.

“The African market contributed 41 per cent of Kenya’s total arrivals in 2024, representing 975,883 visitors. The Luanda–Nairobi flight offers great potential for increasing arrivals from Southern Africa,” said Njoroge.

Last year, Kenya Airways added Maputo, Mozambique to its growing network and increased flight frequencies on several existing routes, including Accra, Freetown, and Lagos. Uganda Airlines also made a strategic play with the launch of Entebbe–Lagos flights in late 2024, its first direct service to West Africa in more than 20 years.

It also launched new routes to Accra and Lusaka the same year. Nigeria’s Air Peace, which has been adding international capacity, rolled out a triangular Lagos–Abidjan–Dakar service early 2024. similarly, the airline has strengthened its West–South corridor with more frequencies to Johannesburg.

Rwandair recently published a new route map that includes plans to operate flights between Kigali and Kenya’s coastal city, Mombasa, Zanzibar, Maputo and Luanda. It underscores Kigali’s ambition to position itself as a pan-African hub. Ethiopian Airlines and EgyptAir have also pushed into underserved Central African markets.

Late 2023, Ethiopian Airlines inaugurated services to Bangui (Central African Republic) with three weekly flights and resumed Ndjamena (Chad), while EgyptAir started flights on a new route connecting Cairo to Mogadishu, Somalia, with a stopover in Djibouti in July 2024.

The surge in intra-Africa routes has been welcomed by African governments, who see aviation as central to trade integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Out of the AU’s 55 member states, the SAATM initiative currently has 38 signatories, which Malawi being the most recent addition. Observers and industry experts say more coordination is need to actualize the initiative’s objective to ultimately liberalise air transport on the continent.

During this month’s Africa Aviation Summit in Kigali, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame affirmed the growing demand for air travel across African borders. “The numbers speak for themselves. In the coming years, passenger traffic on our continent is expected to double.

Efforts have been made to open our skies through initiatives such as the Single African Air Transport Market. The African Continental Free Trade Area is also a key enabler of prosperity,” said Kagame. (Bird story agency)

But, there is a caveat to the expansion of intra-African flights. According to Kagame, the continent continues to face high operational costs and infrastructure gaps, that makes movement of people and cargo more expensive.

“Travel should not only be for the rich. To play a central role in achieving the vision of one sky and free movement, we must work together. We have all the resources and capabilities we need,” said Kagame.