A new white paper just published by TPConnects Technologies and the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), has indicated that 81 per cent of African airlines carry fewer than two million passengers annually, and 80 per cent operate fleets of 15 aircraft or less.
The TPConnects-AFRAA whitepaper, which was released this week, titled “Africa’s Next Flight: Modern Airline Retailing Unlocked”, showed that African carriers were grappling with outdated distribution systems and high operational costs.
The report’s findings indicated that distribution cost reduction topped the priority for all the carriers captured in the survey as they cited Global Distribution System (GDS) and intermediary fees in the sector as financially unsustainable.
Even then, the report reflected that over 40 per cent of airlines surveyed were planning or were already implementing New Distribution Capability (NDC) initiatives, though nearly 50 per cent among them currently have no NDC capabilities while 60 per cent of airlines still continued to rely on on-premises systems, cloud migration and digital retailing investments are increasing
In a related report by Brazilian aerospace manufacturer, Embraer, which was also recently released, African airlines were found to be worsening their operational challenges by using oversized aircraft on routes with low passenger traffic.
The Embraer’s ‘Market Outlook 2025’ report revealed that 85 per cent of intra-African routes carried less than 200 passengers per day, thereby making large aircrafts unsuitable for their operations.
Despite this reality, airlines in the continent have continued to use 150-seat aircraft for commercial operations on these low-density routes, resulting in low load factors, reduced flight frequency, and poor financial returns on their investments.
The ugly situation has created a vicious cycle of empty seats with the attendant implications for higher operating costs per passenger for the carriers, jacking up ticket prices and making air travel less accessible across the continent.
According to Embraer, 160 low-to-medium demand routes across Africa currently served by planes that are too large for the market.
The company clarified: “Africa’s air travel markets are predominantly thin-demand. Smaller aircraft offer the right capacity, cost efficiency, and flexibility to open new routes with reduced economic risk.”