AN X user, @AfricaFactsZone, has claimed that Air Peace is Africa’s largest airline in terms of annual passenger traffic.
In the ratings, he listed Air Peace (Nigeria), Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopia), Air Algerie (Algeria), EgyptAir (Egypt), Kenyan Airways (Kenya), Royal Air Maroc (Morocco), South African Airways (South Africa), and Tunisair (Tunisia) as having the largest airlines by number of passengers annually.
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The post read:
Africa’s Largest Airlines by Number of Passengers Annually
1. Air Peace -14 million passengers
2. Ethiopian Airlines – 13.89 million passengers
3. Air Algerie – 7.2 million passengers
4. EgyptAir – 6.4 million
5. Kenya Airways – 5 million
Royal Air Maroc – 5 million
7. South African Airways – 4.6 million
8. Tunisair – 2.474 million
The post has garnered over 800,000 views, with over 8,000 likes and 1,700 reposts as of April 19, 2024.
CLAIM
Air Peace is the largest African airline in terms of passenger traffic.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub indicate that the claim is FALSE!
The 2023 air transport report released by the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), showed that the top 5 airlines with the highest passenger traffic are: Ethiopian airlines (11.3 million), Egyptair (8.2 million), Safair (6.6 million), Royal Air Maroc (5.7 million) and Air Algerie (4.7 million). While Air peace ranked 7th with 2.6 million passenger traffic on the list.
A 2023 report by Cirium, an aviation analytics company which highlighted Cirium Diio as its data source, ranked Ethiopian airlines (Ethiopia) as the busiest airline in Africa.
A 2024 report published by Simple Flying also noted that Ethiopian Airlines remains Africa’s largest carrier of air passengers as it played a critical role in the 20.7% increase on international passenger traffic by African airlines.
THE VERDICT
The claim that Air Peace is the largest African airline in terms of passenger traffic is FALSE; findings revealed that Ethiopian Airlines is the largest African airlines in terms of passenger traffic.
Seasoned fact-checker and researcher Fatimah Quadri has written numerous fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy pieces for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or [email protected].
