Pan-African airline consolidation will ease travel in continent

Kenya Airways plane at JKIA, Nairobi. The Strategic Partnership Framework signed between Kenya Airways and SAA was designed to focus on shared services. [File, Standard]

Flying between Africa's major cities remains a frustrating experience for millions of travellers. Despite being home to over a billion people across a landmass three times larger than Europe, the continent's air transport network remains fragmented and inefficient.

The statistics paint a stark picture of Africa's aviation underperformance. While the continent represents approximately 17 per cent of the global population, its air transport accounts for less than 3 per cent of worldwide traffic.