15 October 2026

OAG Schedules Put African Airline Capacity at 26.6 Million Seats for October 2026

Edited by:

African Pilot Newsdesk

Why this article matters
Capacity figures of this kind record what airlines have scheduled rather than what they will carry, so they show where carriers have committed aircraft and routes for the month. In OAG’s October 2026 schedules the growth is uneven across the continent: Nigeria, Lagos and Casablanca show the sharpest rises, while South Africa and Johannesburg are close to flat.

The carrier ranking shows the same spread. Royal Air Maroc, Air Cairo and easyJet are adding seats at between 19% and 23%, Ethiopian Airlines is up 6.0%, and Safair is the only top-ten carrier reducing capacity. Hurghada has returned to the airport top ten, and Lagos and Casablanca are growing fastest among the ten largest airports.

Of Interest
- OAG’s Schedules Analyser data puts scheduled seat capacity in Africa at 26.6 million for October 2026, up 8.8% on the 24.4 million of October 2025.
- International capacity is 20.4 million seats, 77% of the total, and domestic capacity is 6.13 million seats, up 11.9%.
- Egypt has the largest national market at 3.2 million seats, and Nigeria is up 44.5% to 1.35 million seats.
- Ethiopian Airlines leads the carrier ranking with 2.07 million seats, up 6.0%.
- easyJet enters the airline top ten in tenth place with 385,484 seats, up 23.2%.
- Cairo is the largest airport at 1.78 million seats, and Lagos is the fastest-growing in the top ten at 29.7%.

Airlines in Africa are scheduled to offer 26.6 million seats in October 2026, 8.8% more than the 24.4 million scheduled for October 2025, according to OAG’s Schedules Analyser data for the African market.

International services account for 20.4 million of those seats, 77% of the total and 7.9% more than a year earlier, while domestic capacity rose 11.9% to 6.13 million seats. Mainline carriers hold 79% of the market with 21.1 million seats, up 8.1%, and low-cost carriers offer 5.5 million seats, up 11.4%.

Egypt has the largest national market at 3.2 million seats, up 9.6%, ahead of South Africa at 2.44 million seats, up 0.8%, and Morocco at 2.18 million, up 11.0%. Nigeria shows the fastest growth among the ten largest country markets, up 44.5% to 1.35 million seats, with its domestic capacity rising 54.6% to about 1 million seats. Ethiopia stands at 1.41 million seats, up 3.9%.

Ethiopian Airlines is the largest carrier with 2.07 million seats, up 6.0%, followed by Safair on 1.02 million, down 1.8%, and EgyptAir on 911,407, up 3.5%. Safair is the only carrier in the top ten reducing capacity. easyJet joins the top ten in tenth place with 385,484 seats, the fastest growth in the group at 23.2%, while Royal Air Maroc grew 20.6% to 817,323 seats and Air Cairo 19.2% to 409,004. Air Peace is no longer among the top ten.

Cairo is the largest airport by scheduled seats at 1.78 million, up 8.2%, followed by Addis Ababa at 1.19 million, up 3.2%, and Johannesburg at 1.16 million, up 0.2%. Lagos shows the fastest growth in the top ten, up 29.7% or 119,200 seats to 0.52 million, with Casablanca up 13.6% to 0.73 million. Hurghada is back in the top ten in eighth place, and Tunis has dropped out.

By destination region, Europe accounts for 10.4 million international seats, up 791,200, with the Middle East at 4.54 million and routes within Africa at 4.35 million. OAG’s regional breakdown shows Central and Western Africa as the fastest-growing region, up 19.6% or 582,100 seats.

OAG updates the African market data monthly and gives access to the full dataset through its website – get more African related details here: https://www.oag.com/african-aviation-data