OPENING AFRICA’S SKIES AND MARKETS THROUGH AVIATION - Join the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, in partnership with the Policy Center for the New South, for a conversation to launch a new report on air transport in Africa and its role in economic growth, trade, and job creation. The report by Tom Bonsundy-O’Bryan details how reform of Africa’s air transportation industry could deliver billions in added gross domestic product (GDP), millions of jobs, and enhanced soft power on the world stage.

Africa is home to 18 percent of the world’s population, but accounts for only 2 percent of global air transport activity. Air transport directly contributes $75 billion to African GDP and supports an estimated 8.1 million jobs. Its broader economic impact is catalytic: each aviation job sustains a further twenty-two jobs across the wider economy, and every one dollar of value the sector creates directly generates another $5.30 elsewhere on the continent. However, despite repeated commitments to reform, Africa remains the world’s most expensive, least connected, and most underserved aviation market.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE - 08/26/2026