AFRAA: Domestic Flights Drive African Air Travel, Cairo Leads All Markets

Domestic air travel continues to drive passenger traffic across Africa, while Cairo International Airport (CAI) strengthened its position as the continent’s leading aviation hub, according to the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) Routes and Connectivity Analysis Report for the second half of 2025.

The report, released July 27, analyzes route-level passenger traffic across domestic, intra-African and international markets between July and December 2025, offering insights into connectivity, network planning and progress under the Single African Air Transport Market.

Using OAG Traffic Analyser data, AFRAA found that domestic routes recorded the highest passenger volumes, with the top 100 routes carrying a combined 13.4 million passengers. International routes followed with 9.3 million passengers, while intra-African routes handled 4.1 million passengers.

South Africa and Nigeria continued to dominate Africa’s domestic aviation market, while CAI emerged as the continent’s most connected airport, appearing eight times among the busiest domestic routes, 12 times on intra-African routes and 11 times in the international rankings.

Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport led intra-African connectivity with 22 appearances among the top-ranked routes. Paris Orly Airport topped the international network with 22 appearances, highlighting the importance of the Algeria–Tunisia–Maghreb–France travel corridor, which features prominently throughout the international route rankings.

Passenger demand remained well-balanced in both directions across the network, with average directional imbalances ranging from 1.7% to 2.9%, indicating relatively even traffic flows between origin and destination airports.

South Africa’s Cape Town–Johannesburg route retained its position as Africa’s busiest, carrying 1.99 million passengers during the period. The Durban–Johannesburg route ranked second with 1.39 million passengers. The Algiers–Paris Charles de Gaulle service was the continent’s busiest international route, transporting 556,000 passengers between July and December 2025.