Airline tie-up for Kenya and South Africa: possible rewards, and risks

South African Airlines and Kenya Airways have drawn up plans to set up a joint pan-African airline in 2023. Michele Spatari / AFP via Getty Images

Africa has 357 airlines, the top 10 of which carried more than 60% of traffic. This reflects the fact that many airlines on the continent are very small: some have as few as two aircraft. Between them the airlines carried 95 million passengers in 2019, according to Routes, an online source of information on route announcements.

Airlines operating on the continent face particular challenges.