If we had one dollar for every time the African Union or another regional bloc reiterated its commitment to open skies and easier travel, every African could probably afford the high airfares that remain pervasive across the continent. Alas, words do not pay for fuel, salaries, or landing fees, and African aviation therefore remains mired in a well-meaning but stagnant regulatory regime.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made headlines in December by vowing to eliminate airport taxes from as soon as the following month. Much jubilation ensued across opinion pages and industry commentary. Reality, however, has proved stubborn and resistant, as is often the case in Africa. Not only do these airport taxes remain firmly in place, but two of the largest markets within ECOWAS are in fact raising the charges levied on air travellers. Nigeria and Ghana are both introducing new security fees, ostensibly to fund Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) initiatives. Despite the publicity around tax elimination, the ECOWAS travelling public will be worse off in 2026 than before. What was announced as tax elimination has simply become tax substitution.
East Africa presents a similar paradox. The East African Community (EAC) frequently promotes its liberalised aviation market and reciprocal ease of access, yet the facts routinely contradict this delusion. Kenya and Tanzania seem to schedule an annual tantrum over some bureaucratic snafu where they ban each other’s airlines for a few days, only to kiss and make up in the morning. Despite professed support for the African Union’s Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), these markets are often more accommodating to carriers from outside the continent. Nairobi, for example, has seen a significant increase in capacity from Middle Eastern airlines such as Emirates, Etihad, flydubai and Qatar Airways, while Africa’s own homegrown behemoth, Ethiopian Airlines, continues to await approval to launch a third daily service, an application now pending for more than three years.
Ethiopia itself is often portrayed as an unqualified success story, and the accomplishments of its national airline are indeed worthy of recognition. However, success of the airline does not automatically translate into success of the wider aviation ecosystem. Ethiopia remains high on IATA’s list of countries where airlines are unable to repatriate ticket sale revenues, a problem that disproportionately affects Africa with seven of the top ten violator nations located on the continent. The consolidation of the airline, airport operator and service providers under the single umbrella of Ethiopian Aviation Holdings may appear efficient on paper, but it also restricts market access through elevated fees and charges for potential competitors. As construction begins on the new mega airport at Bishoftu, there is hope that this signals a more open and competitive future. At present, however, separating Ethiopian Airlines the carrier from Ethiopia the aviation ecosystem remains practically impossible.
Adding to the travel woes for Africans has been Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration which seem to have focused primarily on African countries. Official justification frequently cites high rates of visa overstays and unauthorised work by many African nationals. As of January 2026, more than 60 percent of African citizens are now subject to some form of US travel restriction. These measures range from visa bonds of up to $15,000 per traveller, to suspension of consular visa processing in certain countries, to outright entry bans for nationals of states such as Sierra Leone, Niger and Equatorial Guinea. The commercial impact is unavoidable. US–Africa traffic is likely to decline sharply in 2026, a year that was previously expected to benefit from strong demand linked to the FIFA World Cup in North America. Routes such as Abidjan to JFK and Atlanta to Addis Ababa may see frequency reductions or outright cancellations, while services to restricted markets such as Nigeria are also likely to be rationalised. Blanket, nationality-based restrictions ultimately punish compliant travellers and airlines far more than they deter abuse.
National airlines will once again dominate headlines across Africa in 2026. Some stories will focus on expansion plans, including South African Airways stated ambition to grow long haul services to China and India, and TAAG Angola’s efforts to develop Luanda into a hub from its new Antonio Agostinho Neto International Airport. Others will centre on ambitious resurrection attempts, such as LAM Mozambique’s engagement of Knighthood Capital under former Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan. Meanwhile, countries like Namibia and Ghana continue their never-ending sagas to relaunch previously failed national carriers. The uncomfortable reality, however, is that the most newsworthy developments are likely to be fresh financial losses at airlines such as Uganda Airlines, Air Côte d’Ivoire and Air Tanzania. Not all national airlines are destined to fail, but in Africa, most still will.
Private sector airlines will likely have a more positive outlook, at least for the well managed ones. flySafair will undoubtedly see a seismic change in their ownership structure in 2026, as the clock ticks down on the deadlines set by the regulators to achieve this. Airlink, fresh off its own sale of a minority stake to Qatar Airways, will expand further into Africa with their brand-new Embraer E195-E2 fleet, with markets like Johannesburg to Zanzibar and Cape Town to Lagos likely to be the headline routes. The fastjet group will return to the Mozambique domestic market following an approval of their license in December 2025. Ghana’s Africa World Airlines will probably see more regional expansion after a period of post-COVID stagnation amid ownership changes affecting their Chinese shareholders. Nigeria’s domestic market will remain chaotic, competitive and full of potential as newer entrants such as United Nigeria and Enugu Air challenge established players Air Peace and Ibom Air for market share.
African aviation continues to survive, not because of government policy, but often despite it. As the title suggests, talk is cheap, airfare is not. If regulators and policymakers wish to see genuinely affordable air travel across the continent, they must accept an uncomfortable truth. High airfares in Africa are less a market failure than a deliberate policy choice.
This article was published in the January 2026 (037 Issue) of VoyagesAfriq Travel Magazine
