Nigerian Airports in Poor Showing at AFRAA Report for Seat Volumes
The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) has unveiled its July 2025 industry report, indicating that despite Nigeria’s sixth-place standing in overall seat volumes among countries, none of its airports featured in the top 10 for highest seat sales.
This report, presented during AFRAA’s Industrial Affairs Briefing conducted virtually on Wednesday, where industry stakeholders assessed performance metrics, reveals that Nigeria ranked sixth among African nations in airline seat sales for July 2025. South Africa dominated in total seats sold by country, followed by Egypt and Morocco in the top three positions. Ethiopia secured fourth, Kenya fifth, and Nigeria sixth, trailed by Algeria, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Ghana. Despite Nigeria’s notable position in the country rankings, its airports failed to secure a spot in the top 10 list of African airports with the highest seat sales.
At the airport level, Cairo International Airport achieved the highest seat sales, with South Africa’s O.R. Tambo International Airport and Cape Town close behind. Other prominent hubs in the top rankings included Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (Ethiopia), Mohammed V International Airport, Casablanca (Morocco), Marrakech Menara Airport (Morocco), Hurghada International Airport (Egypt), Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi (Kenya), Algiers Houari Boumediene Airport (Algeria), and Tunis-Carthage International Airport (Tunisia).
The absence of Nigerian airports from the top 10 list raises concerns regarding the nation’s aviation competitiveness, despite its large population, and appears anomalous given Nigeria’s sixth-place country ranking for total seat sales.
Additionally, the report highlighted that African airlines experienced a 5% increase in seat sales in July 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. Contributing factors to this growth included network expansion, new route launches, and aircraft upsizing.
Nevertheless, challenges such as route cancellations, downsizing, and network attrition adversely affected some carriers.
The report underscored traffic share disparities between African and non-African carriers.
Despite the five percent growth in July 2025 compared to July 2024, African carriers continue to confront fierce competition from international airlines for market share. AFRAA data disclosed that African carriers held merely 49.9% of international traffic share in May 2025, while non-African carriers captured 50.1% of the market.
