IATA forecasts a loss of $500m for African carriers, from a $700m loss in 2015.

“Carriers in the [African] region continue to confront a plethora of challenges including intense competition on long-haul routes, political barriers to growing intra-African traffic, high costs and infrastructure deficiencies,” Iata said. “In addition, many major economies in the continent have been hit hard by the collapse in commodity prices.”