Transportation Visualizing the African Map with National Air Carriers ProvisioFebruary 23, 2022022 views Why We L👀ked Into This »🎨 How many countries have a national carrier in Africa? What country had the first national airline? African Countries with National Carriers There are 29 African countries with a national carrier (as at the time of this publication) and Libya has 2 national carriers. DR Congo also plans to have a second national airline. All North African countries have a national carrier while West African countries have the least number of national airlines per region. Historically, West African countries had national carriers especially around the 1950s-60s which coincided with independence for some of these countries but they are largely defunct today. Nigeria launched Nigeria Air in 2018 but it plans to take off in 2022. Ghana has similar plans to relaunch Ghana Airways in 2022. East Africa has the most national carriers with Ethiopian Airlines leading the continent in fleet and alliances across the continent. Africa’s Biggest National Carriers by Fleet Size Ethiopian Airlines dominates the African airspace and is 100% owned by the government. With a fleet of 131 and 38 on order (as at the time of this publication), Ethiopian Airlines has the largest fleet in Africa (and partnership deals with other African countries). Other African national carriers with more than 50 aircraft in their fleet are in North-Africa: EgyptAir (76) of Egypt, Air Algerie (56) of Algeria, and Royal Air Maroc of Morocco. They are all 100% owned by the government. Following the 4 countries above are: Kenya Airways of Kenya (48.9% government shares) with 32 aircraft and Tunisair of Tunisia (74.4% government shares) with 30 aircraft. Africa’s Oldest National Carriers EgyptAir (1932) is the oldest national carrier in Africa followed by South African Airways (1934) and LAM Mozambique Airlines (Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique) – 1936. Different changes in government, interest and alliances have led to some airlines either going under, resurging after a break or completely winding off. This has also led to changes in name or ownership structure This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.