Africa’s air transport industry is dominated by three large, efficient airlines, with a fringe of small, financially precarious national flag carriers

Each of Africa’s three major airport hubs is associated with a large, efficient state-owned carrier: South African Airlines in Johannesburg, Ethiopian Airlines in Addis Ababa, and Kenya Airways in Nairobi. Another 17 of the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa continue to operate weak state-owned carriers in very small, protected markets. Those carriers survive thanks to substantial government subsidies and often represent a considerable drain on public finances. An additional 25 countries have scrapped their flag carriers in favor of private operators. The remaining 3 have no reported operators of their own. The combined effect of airline failures and regulatory restrictions on competition has been to increase concentration, both in the total market and on individual routes. By early 2008, 15 airlines accounted for 59 percent of all seat capacity offered in Africa. Sixteen of the top 60 routes, and 66 of the total of 206 routes, have only one carrier.
Ethiopian Airlines and, to a lesser extent, Kenya Airlines have contributed to this concentration by developing new routes where they are the sole carrier. The lack of competition on those routes contributes to relatively high prices: air travel within Africa is considerably more expensive per mile flown than is intercontinental travel, especially on routes of less than 2,000 nautical miles. Moreover, aircraft landing charges are generally high by international standards, partly because of the absence of nonflight revenues from airport concessions.