Connectivity & Aviation
Routes, alliances, hub strategy, open-skies progress and the institutional architecture that determines who reaches Africa and how. The continent is structurally more open to external aviation partners than to fellow African states. This department tracks why, and what it means for the destinations whose tourism economies depend on connectivity they do not control.
Open skies, higher fares: West Africa freed its airspace and taxed the seats inside it.
West Africa opened its airspace to free routing in October 2025, saving airlines an estimated $15 million a year. In the same window Ghana added a $100 levy that moved it from ninth to third most expensive in Africa. ECOWAS mandated a 25 percent cut; Côte d’Ivoire complied, Ghana and Nigeria did the opposite.
Read the analysis →Read by tourism ministries, hotel investors and the analysts who advise them.
Every Monday morning, one analytical brief on the intersection of African tourism and global political economy. Free.
Subscribe — every Monday