11 November 2026

OAG Puts Africa’s November 2026 Scheduled Capacity at 25.2 Million Seats, With Nigeria Growing Fastest

Airlines have scheduled 25.2 million seats across Africa in November 2026, up 6.3% year on year, OAG data shows. Nigeria leads growth among the ten largest markets at 25.3%, Royal Air Maroc is the fastest-growing top-ten airline, and South Africa and Tunisia have cut capacity.

Horizontal bar chart of November 2026 departing seat capacity by airline in Africa, led by Ethiopian Airlines at about two million seats, followed by Safair, Egyptair, Royal Air Maroc, Air Algerie, Airlink, Ryanair, Emirates, Air Cairo and easyJet. — Seat capacity by airline in Africa, November 2026, as scheduled. [OAG]

Edited by:

African Pilot Newsdesk

Why this article matters
Scheduled seat data is the earliest measure of where airlines are committing aircraft, and November’s figures show growth concentrated in North Africa, Nigeria and Royal Air Maroc’s network. Nigeria’s 25.3% rise, driven by domestic flying, makes it the clearest growth market among the continent’s largest, and Lagos is growing faster than any other major airport.

South Africa’s domestic and international capacity is edging down while most large markets expand, and Safair is the only top-ten airline cutting seats. Intra-African capacity, at 4.16 million seats, remains below the Middle East and well below Europe, which is the measure to watch as liberalisation efforts continue.

Of Interest
- Total scheduled capacity, November 2026: 25.2 million seats, up 6.3% year on year.
- International capacity: 77% of the total, up 5.6%. Domestic capacity up 8.6%.
- Nigeria: 1,296,314 seats, up 25.3%; domestic capacity up 29.1% to 978,000 seats.
- Largest airline: Ethiopian Airlines, 2,030,811 seats, up 6.0%.
- Fastest-growing top-ten airline: Royal Air Maroc, up 22.9%.
- South Africa capacity down 2.0%; Tunisia down 0.4%.

Airlines have scheduled 25.2 million seats across Africa in November 2026, 6.3% more than the 23.7 million seats scheduled in November 2025, according to OAG’s monthly African capacity data. International services account for 77% of the total and are up 5.6%, while domestic capacity has grown by 8.6%.

Among the ten largest country markets, Nigeria has again grown fastest, with capacity up 25.3% to 1,296,314 seats, an additional 261,759 seats. Most of that growth is domestic: Nigeria’s domestic capacity is up 29.1% to 978,000 seats. Egypt remains the largest country market with 3,180,444 seats, up 9.8%, followed by Morocco and South Africa. Eight of the ten largest markets added seats. South Africa removed 47,196 seats, a decline of 2.0%, and Tunisia was down 0.4%. South Africa is still the continent’s largest domestic market, at 1.6 million seats, despite a 3.8% fall.

Ethiopian Airlines is the largest carrier, with 2,030,811 seats, up 6.0%. Within the top ten airlines, Royal Air Maroc grew fastest, by 22.9% to 792,378 seats, followed by Air Cairo (up 22.6%) and easyJet (up 19.3%). Safair, in second place with 992,250 seats, is the only top-ten airline to have reduced capacity, by 2.0%.

Cairo is the largest airport with 1.74 million seats, up 10.1%. Lagos recorded the fastest growth among the ten largest airports, at 18.6%, ahead of Casablanca at 17.2%. Johannesburg and Cape Town both scheduled slightly fewer seats than a year earlier.

Low-cost carriers grew by 8.6% to 5.4 million seats, while mainline airlines, which hold 79% of the market, grew by 5.7%. Europe remains the largest international destination region with 9.7 million seats, followed by the Middle East with 4.35 million and intra-African capacity with 4.16 million seats.