AFRICA. The busiest air passenger routes in Africa for 2017 have been revealed in a new study.
The South African domestic flight between Cape Town and Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport is the busiest on the continent, according to analyst and event organiser Routes. Over 4.7 million passengers flew between the two airports last year.
Second in the list is the flight between O.R. Tambo and Durban’s King Shaka International Airport, with 2.87 million passengers. Egypt’s Cairo International to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah ranked third, with 1.7 million passengers.
The domestic Nigerian flight between Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in capital city Abuja and Murtala Muhammed International in Lagos was third, with 1.3 million passengers.
Completing the top five was the domestic route between Cape Town International and Lanseria International in Johannesburg, with 1.2 million passengers.
Routes’ study analysed the top 100 aviation routes in Africa by total capacity in 2017, according to OAG Schedules Analyser, and then ordered them using passenger data provided by Sabre Airline Solutions.
Eight airlines operated services between Cape Town and O.R. Tambo International during the year, with the average cost of a ticket being US$78. In total there was in excess of 34,000 flights between the two destinations in 2017, equating to an average of 95 flights per day.
The research has been released ahead of Routes Africa 2018, an aviation forum bringing together airlines, airports and tourism authorities. It will take place in Accra, Ghana between 16 and 18 July. Ethiopian Airlines Chief Executive Officer Tewolde GebreMariam, International Air Transport Association Vice President for Africa Raphael Kuuchi and ACI Africa Secretary General Ali Tounsi will be among the speakers.
