Most airports are built around capacity. The ones that last are designed around commercial performance from the outset. Africa’s recent wave of airport developments is the opportunity to get this right.
Africa is investing in airports at a scale not seen in a generation. From Lagos to Bishoftu, Kigali to Cape Town, governments and private sector players across the continent are committing serious money to aviation infrastructure. But long-term success will depend not just on what gets built, but whether these airports are designed from the outset to operate as commercially sustainable businesses.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) projects Africa’s aviation market will grow at a rate of 4.1% annually over the next two decades, reaching over 400 million passengers a year by 2044. Eight of the world’s ten fastest-growing aviation markets by percentage are on this continent (IATA, 2025).
Building new runways, aprons and terminals is only part of the equation. A new airport is not the same as a commercially sustainable airport. What is impressive on opening day can become a burden on public finances soon after. The airports that prove most commercially sustainable in the long-term are those that see revenue generation as an integral design decision, rather than an operational afterthought.
This was the approach taken at Yaoundé Airport in Cameroon and its recent upgrade to check-in, immigration and baggage handling systems earlier this year. Every blueprint and budget line was designed to make sure the airport could pay for itself, attract airlines, support growing passenger volumes, and deliver the long-term returns and economic benefits underpinning the investment.
Good design is a revenue-driver
The commercial airport model draws from two primary streams: aeronautical and non-aeronautical.
Aeronautical revenue is the money an airport earns from its core business of moving people and cargo on and off planes. This includes passenger service charges, landing fees, aircraft parking charges, and related fees paid by airlines. The goal here is to move as many passengers through the facility as efficiently as possible, charge fairly for the service, and to attract and retain airlines so they add more flights and routes.
Non-aeronautical revenue covers everything else: public parking, retail concessions, hotels, lounges, advertising, and property rentals. Done well, this transforms an airport from a break-even utility into a genuinely profitable enterprise.
Passenger volume alone does not guarantee commercial performance. Airports only unlock the full value of traffic when terminals are designed to move passengers efficiently through commercially active spaces. Design is a core commercial driver, not just an aesthetic one.
Passengers expect more. Commercial advantage goes to the airports that keep up.
Technology has reset what a modern airport experience looks like, and passenger expectations have moved accordingly.
Globally, three in four passengers say they prefer to use biometric identification over paper documents at the airport, while half already do (IATA, 2025). Self-service check-in, automated bag drops and e-gates for border control are becoming standard rather than premium features. Airports value them for their ability to save space, reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Beyond processing, passengers expect the environment to work for them: real-time, accurate digital signage, clear wayfinding, comfortable lounges and waiting areas, reliable high-speed connectivity, and a well-considered mix of retail and food offerings. These elements need to be positioned so that moving through the airport feels intuitive at every step.
These are not nice-to-haves. They directly influence how long passengers dwell, how comfortable they feel, and how likely they are to engage with the commercial offering. Meeting these expectations requires investment; investment that pays back directly through the airport’s two core revenue streams.
On the aeronautical side, faster and more reliable passenger processing means higher throughput within the same physical footprint, translating directly into the ability to accommodate more flights and attract more airlines.
On the non-aeronautical side, a passenger who clears check-in, security and passport control in twenty minutes instead of forty-five has more time to eat, shop, and spend.
Three principles for building airports that pay for themselves
First. A commercially grounded master plan defines how many passengers the facility will serve, how much revenue each one needs to generate, and what that means for how the terminal is designed. Every structural decision made without one will cost more to fix than it would have cost to get right.
Second. Commercial performance is determined before construction even begins. Airports that integrate passenger flow, retail strategy, dwell zones, wayfinding and self-service technology into the core design process are far better positioned to unlock revenue, improve passenger experience and attract airline partners over the long term. When these elements are treated as secondary and added later, airports lock themselves into costly inefficiencies that are difficult and expensive to reverse.
Third. Work with people who have done this before. Airports deliver stronger long-term returns when they are planned by teams with experience across aviation, security, immigration, logistics, technology and retail. These environments depend on multiple interconnected systems and stakeholders working together. Bringing in the right expertise early means systems work together rather than in isolation, operations run more efficiently, and commercial returns grow over time.
Across more than 400 global airport projects, including 15 of the world’s top 40, CCM, a SITA company, has seen first-hand that the difference between a terminal that delivers on its commercial potential and one that does not most often comes down to when the right expertise entered the project. The earlier it does, the less it costs and the more it returns.
Selim Bouri is SITA’s President for Africa and Middle East. SITA is the air transport industry’s IT partner, serving airports, airlines, and border management authorities worldwide.
