Europe accounted for 10.8 million scheduled international airline seats from Africa in August 2026, making it the continent’s largest international aviation destination region, according to OAG data cited by Nairametrics.
The figure represents 50.35% of Africa’s 21.5 million international scheduled seats for the month. The data also highlights the continued dominance of markets outside Africa, despite growth in intra-African connectivity. International services represented 21.5 million seats, or 79% of Africa’s total scheduled airline capacity of 27.3 million seats, which grew 8.4% year-on-year.
The Middle East was the second-largest international destination region, with 4.93 million seats, accounting for 22.9% of Africa’s international capacity. By comparison, international routes within Africa accounted for 4.53 million seats, or 21.1%, although intra-African capacity increased by 10% year-on-year. Europe’s scheduled capacity increased 6.6% compared with August 2025, while Middle East capacity grew 8.1%. Together, the two regions accounted for approximately 15.75 million international seats, representing more than 73% of Africa’s international capacity.
Nigeria recorded the fastest growth among Africa’s top 10 country aviation markets, with scheduled seat capacity rising 37% year-on-year to 1.22 million seats. Its domestic capacity grew even faster, increasing 42.6% to 907,600 seats. Among airlines, Ethiopian Airlines retained its position as Africa’s largest carrier by scheduled seat capacity, with 2.19 million seats, up 10.9% year-on-year. Safair ranked second with 984,700 seats, while EgyptAir followed with 922,600.
The figures point to continued expansion in Africa’s aviation market, while also highlighting the significant opportunity to deepen intra-African air connectivity and retain a larger share of international passenger traffic within the continent.
