African aviation’s tech spend isn’t delivering full value – SITA report

The latest SITA Air Transport IT Insights report for 2025/2026 highlights a critical paradox in the African aviation sector: while IT spending is on the rise, the full value of these investments is being choked by systemic and structural bottlenecks.

The 2025 report identifies poor data integration as the single largest barrier to ROI. Airlines and airports are spending a record $50.8 billion globally on IT.

The African Reality: While 83% of airlines prioritise data-driven decision-making, the data remains siloed.

Without seamless flow among airlines, ground handlers, and airport authorities, investments in expensive AI or real-time tracking systems cannot deliver their promised efficiencies. 37% of African aviation leaders cite financing as a major barrier to IT projects, compared to just 14% globally.

Because capital is more expensive and many systems are legacy-heavy, African operators often spend more on basic modernisation, leaving less for high-value predictive analytics that drive profitability in Europe or North America.

SITA’s 2025 Air Transport IT Insights also said that while the air transport industry invested a record $50.8 billion in technology in 2025, a common obstacle keeps emerging: when data does not flow freely between systems and partners, that investment cannot fully deliver on what it was designed to unlock.

The cost of this data coordination gap is higher than ever now that the conflict in the Middle East continues to disrupt the industry at a global scale.

Operators investing in closing that gap are building foundations that will outlast the current disruption.

“We are publishing this research at a moment when the industry is under significant pressure. Across all areas we measured, the same constraint emerges: where data does not flow freely across systems and partners, investment cannot fully deliver on what it was designed to unlock. That constraint carries a higher cost today, but also a clear opportunity to emerge stronger,” said David Lavorel, CEO of SITA.

Airlines and airports are increasing their investment in IT. In 2025, airlines committed $36 billion, or 3.6% of revenue, while airports raised their spend to $14.8 billion, representing 7.3% of revenue, up from 6.4% the previous year.

The reason is consistent across both: 83% of airlines and 89% of airports say data-driven decision-making is a strategic priority, a clear signal that the industry is actively building the operational foundations it believes resilience depends on.

He disclosed that when operations run close to capacity, disruption carries a direct financial cost. Flight delays alone account for $30 billion of total industry revenue, according to IATA.

According to the report, improving predictions and responses to disruption is key, which is why data integration is being actively addressed: 46 per cent of airlines are upgrading their flight operations systems to make information consistent and accessible across flight, crew, aircraft and passenger systems in real time.

The goal is to give operational teams the shared picture they need to intervene earlier, before a single delay becomes a network problem.

Yet 49% of airlines identify data integration and consistency as the primary barrier to achieving this. When information is fragmented across systems, the window for early intervention closes before it can be used.

Early AI deployments in aviation focused on individual systems: predictive alerts, route optimisation, and maintenance forecasting.

The shift now underway is more significant. 63% of airlines use AI in operations control to simultaneously manage disruptions, aircraft assignments, and crew availability, evaluating recovery options across multiple constraints before recommending actions.

Seventy-nine per cent name generative AI and large language models as their top investment priority for the next 12 months, a signal that ambition is running well ahead of current deployment.

AI is used most confidently when used within a single system. It is used least where decisions require consistent data from multiple partners: only 17% of airlines use AI to monitor turnaround activity in real time.

Airports are moving to close that gap, with 53% now applying AI to aircraft turnaround, up from 36% in 2024. But the ceiling on AI’s impact is not capability. It is data alignment.

“Aviation is deploying AI with real ambition. But the survey is clear: the primary barrier to maximising that investment is the lack of data integration across the operation. The technology is there. The data infrastructure to connect it often is not,” added Lavorel.

As airlines and airports connect more systems across operations and with passengers and partners, the exposure to a cyber incident has changed.

A breach would no longer affect a single platform. It risks affecting the accuracy and availability of the shared data that operations depend on: gate changes, turnaround status, and passenger information.

71% of airports now rank cybersecurity as their top overall IT focus area, and 68% cite it as the primary driver of infrastructure upgrades.

The industry is responding: 64% of airports are already applying AI in cybersecurity to detect anomalies earlier and reduce response times, up from 51% in 2024.

The move toward airline and airport-issued digital identity credentials is accelerating sharply. 64% of airlines plan to use their own issued credentials, up from 32% in 2024, and biometric border control, already live at 54% of airports, is expected to reach 83% by 2028.

The technology is ready, and the investment is committed. The key to delivering value is coordination: 57% of airlines cite airport cooperation as the primary requirement for scaling digital identities, up from 40% the previous year.

An identity program only works when every touchpoint in the passenger journey consistently recognises the same record. Without that alignment, the infrastructure exists, but the benefit does not.

The sustainability data in this year’s report tells the same story. The focus is strongest where a single operator owns the data and the decision: 83% of airlines are implementing fleet renewal programs, 67% are sourcing Sustainable Aviation Fuel in select locations, and 75% of airports use building management systems to monitor terminal energy use.

However, adoption of total emissions tracking and airside carbon measurement – capabilities that require consistent data sharing across airlines, ground handlers and infrastructure – remains below 20%.

The pattern is not a coincidence. Across AI, cybersecurity, digital identities and sustainability, the report finds the same ceiling: progress is most advanced where data is coordinated across systems and partners.

“Across AI, cybersecurity, digital identities and sustainability, operators name the same constraint: data that does not flow freely across systems and partners. It is consistent across every area we measured. Data coordination is not a future priority. It is what is limiting outcomes today,” Lavorel added.

Wole Shadare