A new study by British company Routesonline has revealed that Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport topped the list of the fastest-growing airports by capacity in Africa, as direct flights continue to return to the charming Egyptian city.
According to the report, data from global travel and tourism analytics firm Sabre Market Intelligence showed that the airport, Egypt's third busiest, increased its capacity by 28.9% this year to handle up to 1.49 million departing seats, compared with 1.16 million seats in 2018.
It attributed this to airlines such as Onur Air and AtlasGlobal resuming flights to Sharm El-Sheikh in 2019, while 4 other airlines, such as Air Cairo and Wind Rose Aviation, significantly increased their annual capacity. Other airlines such as TUI are expected to resume flights from the United Kingdom to Sharm El-Sheikh from February 2020, while easyJet indicated that it will also launch its holidays there next year.
Mark Hall, director of product and destination experience at TUI UK and Ireland, said the resorts of Sharm El-Sheikh have always been a very popular destination and that the return of flights was a response to customer demand.
The study ranked the fastest-growing airports in Africa based on annual growth in departing seats in 2019 compared with 2018, and according to data provided by research firm OAG Schedules Analyser, all the airports on the list exceeded one million seats.
In second place on the list came Marrakech International Airport in Morocco, with a total of 3.91 million seats this year and an increase of 22.6% this year.
Hurghada International Airport ranked third, with growth of 2.3% in 2019, thanks to the city's distinguished location on the Red Sea coast and its worldwide fame for diving. It also benefited from the United Kingdom directing its flights there instead of Sharm El-Sheikh in recent years, while other markets included Ukraine, Turkey, Germany and Switzerland.
In fourth place was Morocco's Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport, with an increase of 9.6% to accommodate up to 7.33 million, while Ghana's Kotoka International Airport in Accra completed the top 5 with 8.8% growth in 2019; it is designed to handle 5 million passengers a year.
The top 10 fastest-growing airports in Africa by departing seats (2018 vs. 2019) were as follows:
