Airbus aircraft operated by African customers totalled 300 as of 31 July 2026, according to the manufacturer’s latest orders, deliveries and in-fleet data for Africa. Single-aisle aircraft account for more than two-thirds of the fleet, while the outstanding order book is weighted heavily towards the A350-900.
The Africa data records 338 cumulative aircraft orders and 270 deliveries, alongside 300 aircraft currently in fleet. These figures should not be read as a simple progression from orders to deliveries and fleet size, as the customer data includes aircraft in operation that were not delivered directly by Airbus to their current operators.
For example, Air Cairo is recorded with four direct orders and four deliveries but has 31 Airbus aircraft in fleet. Air Arabia Maroc, meanwhile, has 10 aircraft in fleet despite having no direct Airbus orders or deliveries recorded on the Africa sheet. The in-fleet figures consequently provide a different measure of Airbus’s current presence in the African market from the manufacturer’s historical customer order and delivery figures.
Of the 300 Airbus aircraft currently in African fleets, 207 are single-aisle aircraft, representing 69% of the total. The A320ceo remains by far the largest individual type, with 127 aircraft in service. It is followed by 35 A320neos, 15 A321ceos, 12 A220-300s, 11 A319ceos and seven A321neos.
Widebody aircraft account for the remaining 93 aircraft. The A330 family is the largest of these, with 47 aircraft in fleet, comprising 24 A330-200s, 10 A330-300s, two A330-800s and 11 A330-900s.
The A350 has established a fleet of 34 aircraft across the continent, including 30 A350-900s and four A350-1000s. Eleven A340s remain in fleet, comprising four A340-200/300s and seven A340-500/600s, while one A300 is still recorded. No A380s are listed as being in fleet in Africa.
The outstanding order book has a markedly different composition from the current fleet. Of the 338 aircraft ordered, 270 had been delivered by the end of July, leaving an order-to-delivery gap of 68 aircraft. All 68 are concentrated in just four current-generation aircraft types.
The A350-900 accounts for 48 of these aircraft, representing more than 70% of the remaining delivery pipeline. A further nine A220-300s, six A320neos and five A330-900s make up the balance.
Ethiopian Airlines holds the largest outstanding position, with 17 A350-900s yet to be delivered against its recorded orders. EgyptAir has 12 A350-900s outstanding, followed by Afriqiyah Airways with 10, Libyan Airlines with six and Air Mauritius with three.
Outside the A350 programme, Ibom Air has nine A220-300s outstanding, Berniq Airways has six A320neos and Air Algérie has five A330-900s remaining between its orders and deliveries. Airbus notes separately that Air Algérie’s figures include two A330-900s ordered and delivered through Airbus Financial Services.
The geographical distribution of the 300 aircraft also shows the scale of Airbus’s presence in North Africa. Egyptian operators collectively account for 98 aircraft, just under one-third of the entire African in-fleet total. Tunisia follows with 36, South Africa with 34, Libya with 31 and Ethiopia with 26. These five markets account for 225 aircraft, or 75% of the African Airbus fleet recorded in the July data.
At individual airline level, Air Cairo has the largest Airbus fleet recorded on the sheet, with 31 aircraft, followed closely by EgyptAir with 30. Ethiopian Airlines operates 26 and South African Airways 23, while Tunisair and Nouvelair Tunisie each have 18.
The ranking changes when cumulative direct orders are considered. EgyptAir is Airbus’s largest African customer in the dataset, with 75 aircraft ordered over time, followed by South African Airways with 52 and Ethiopian Airlines with 39. These historical totals include earlier-generation aircraft that are no longer necessarily part of the airlines’ current fleets.
While the installed African Airbus fleet remains heavily weighted towards the A320ceo, the outstanding orders show where the manufacturer’s direct delivery pipeline is now concentrated. The 48 A350-900s still to be delivered represent the largest component by a considerable margin, alongside smaller A220-300, A320neo and A330-900 order positions.
Airbus Orders, Deliveries, In Fleet – Africa, summary to 31 July 2026. Analysis based exclusively on the Africa sheet of the July 2026 workbook supplied: https://www.airbus.com/en/products-services/commercial-aircraft/orders-and-deliveries
