(Posted 15th September 2026)
Courtesy of Faria Noor / LinkedIn – An Opinion Piece worth reading
I am African, and after studying why flying inside Africa can be so expensive, I reached a second conclusion.
Africa will not solve aviation by creating one giant continental airline.
It will solve it when African airlines become stronger at different things — and connect those strengths into one African system.
One airline may excel at long-haul routes.
Another at regional connectivity.
Another at secondary cities.
Another at cargo.
Another at technical capability or tourism corridors.
The mistake is forcing every airline to build the same fleet, routes, systems and ambitions.
That duplicates cost.
It weakens balance sheets.
It consumes scarce foreign exchange.
And it can leave governments financing prestige instead of connectivity.
The stronger principle is simple:
COMPETE where competition lowers prices and improves service.
COOPERATE where duplication destroys African value.
SPECIALISE where capability creates advantage.
CONNECT where AfCFTA needs people, goods and businesses to move.
A passenger crossing Africa should increasingly experience one connected journey — even when several African airlines carry them.
But the deeper question is ownership.
Who maintains the aircraft?
Who finances and insures them?
Who owns the technical capability?
Who earns from cargo, training, parts, data, payments and aviation services?
How much foreign currency leaves Africa every time an African aircraft takes off?
If African airlines grow while the highest-value capabilities behind aviation remain permanently elsewhere, Africa may gain traffic without gaining enough power.
So the goal cannot simply be MORE FLIGHTS.
It must be:
MORE AFRICAN CAPABILITY BEHIND EVERY FLIGHT.
That strengthens jobs, engineers, technicians, African businesses and resilience.
It can also reduce unnecessary forex exposure over time.
And culturally, it reconnects Africans with Africans — businesses, families, students, tourists, investors and ideas.
AfCFTA cannot become one real market if Africa remains difficult and expensive to reach from within Africa itself.
The leadership question is not:
“Which African airline should become the biggest?”
It is:
HOW DO WE BUILD AN AFRICAN AVIATION ECOSYSTEM WHERE STRONG AIRLINES COMPETE, SPECIALISE, CONNECT — AND MORE VALUE REMAINS IN AFRICA?
Africa does not need one airline.
AFRICA NEEDS ONE CONNECTED SKY.
Farhia Noor
Founder, The African Lens
