Busiest airports in Africa
What are the busiest airports in Africa?
Africa is an emerging continent, this also applies to the aviation market. At present, Africa is responsible for only 3% of global air traffic, while 17% of the world’s population lives in Africa. The top 15 largest airports in Africa include three airports from South Africa in the cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban and three airports from Egypt in the cities of Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh. Many major African airports are heavily dependent on the country’s national flag carrier, well-known examples are Cairo Airport (EgyptAir), Addis Ababa Bole Airport (Ethiopian Airlines) and Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta Airport (Kenya Airways). Two African airports also widely used are Luanda Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Angola and Dakar Blaise Diagne Airport in Senegal, however official passenger numbers of 2018 are not available.
Top 15 busiest/largest airports in Africa, 2018:
Position | Airport | Total passengers |
1 | Johannesburg OR Tambo Airport* (South Africa) | 21,313,943 |
2 | Cairo Airport (Egypt) | 17,546,221 |
3 | Addis Ababa Bole Airport (Ethiopia) | 12,143,938 |
4 | Cape Town Airport* (South Africa) | 10,823,737 |
5 | Casablanca Mohammed V Airport (Morocco) | 9,734,320 |
6 | Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta Airport (Kenya) | 8,017,900 |
7 | Algiers Houari Boumediene Airport (Algeria) | 7,975,412 |
8 | Lagos Murtala Muhammed Airport (Nigeria) | 7,290,530 |
9 | Hurghada Airport (Egypt) | 6,672,681 |
10 | Tunis-Carthage Airport (Tunisia) | 6,200,000 |
11 | Durban King Shaka Airport* (South Africa) | 5,993,161 |
12 | Marrakesh Menara Airport (Morocco) | 5,280,624 |
13 | Abuja Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport (Nigeria) | 4,879,066 |
14 | Sharm El Sheikh Airport (Egypt) | 4,734,641 |
15 | Mauritius Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport (Mauritius) | 3,856,720 |
* April 2018 to March 2019
Sources, among others:
https://www.airports.co.za/airports/or-tambo-international-airport/statistics/ (South Africa)
http://www.ehcaan.com/statistics.aspx (Egypt)
http://www.onda.ma/Je-d%C3%A9couvre-ONDA/Espace-presse/Communiqu%C3%A9s-de-presse (Morocco)