Evans:Why intra-African air fares 60% higher than European routes

Senior Lecturer at Digital Marketing and Tourism at the University of Bedfordshire, Dr Augusta Evans, has lamented that intra-African airfares are 40–60% higher than comparable European routes.

This disparity is a central theme in Evans’ weekend presentation on the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) and the marketing of African destinations.

This, she said, has put a massive barrier to “Destination Africa” branding.

In her presentation at the African Travel Commission (ATC) meeting convened by the ATC Executive Director, Dr Lucky George, with the theme “Affordable Aviation as Strategic Enabler of African tourism and Regional Development through the Lens of SAATM”, held in Lagos over the weekend, she said based on recent industry data and research, the cost gap between a flight like Lagos–Accra (approx. 1 hour) and London–Paris (approx. 1 hour) is driven by three hidden factors such as protectionist tax.

She explained that while European routes benefit from the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA), which minimises cross-border fees, African routes are burdened by Passenger Service Charges (PSCs) that often exceed $50–$100 per international departure within Africa.

Others, according to her, are additional levies that can make the taxes and fees section of a ticket more expensive than the base fare itself, including operational inefficiencies.

She said, “Due to high prices, fewer people fly, leading to lower load factors (percentage of seats filled). Airlines then raise prices to break even on under-filled planes, creating a vicious cycle of high costs. Jet fuel in Africa is roughly 21–30% more expensive than the global average due to inland transport costs and monopolies at certain airports.”

She pointed out that, unlike Europe’s “Open Skies,” many African nations still rely on restrictive bilateral agreements that limit the number of weekly flights, stifling the competition that naturally drives down European LCC (Low-Cost Carrier) prices.”

Evans argued that Africa cannot compete as a global destination if it remains the most expensive continent to traverse internally.

Her proposed solutions often include ensuring passengers have rights across borders, which increases trust, flight frequency, and price elasticity by showing governments that a 10% reduction in fares can lead to a 20%+ increase in traffic, ultimately generating more total tax revenue through volume rather than high individual fees.

She also noted that fragmented air markets in Africa have kept fares high, adding that when a market is fragmented, it operates as a series of isolated islands rather than a unified network, undermining the efficiency required for low-cost travel.

“In a fragmented market, the economy of scale is replaced by the penalty of the small, leading to the 40–60% price premium as stated earlier. In a fragmented market, a passenger often cannot fly directly between two neighbouring cities (e.g., Luanda to Kinshasa) without a detour.”

“This forces dog-leg routes, often through European hubs like Paris or Istanbul, doubling the flight time and the fuel consumption, which is then passed on to the passenger. The Single African Air Travel Market (SAATM) is creating a mesh network where regional hubs handle local traffic directly.”

To transition SAATM from a signed commitment to an active implementation, she said, requires moving beyond political rhetoric and into the brass tacks of regulatory alignment.

Governments fear that larger carriers will swallow their struggling national airlines.

She highlighted that while 38 nations have committed, unlocking affordable travel requires three specific operational shifts.

These countries, according to her, account for over 80% of Africa’s existing air traffic market, and she regretted that liberalisation is still below its full potential, just as affordable air travel, she added, depends on moving from policy to practice.

Wole Shadare