Nairobi, Nov. 19 -- Frequent flyers across Africa are often frustrated by two things: the lack of intra-African connectivity and an onerous visa regime. Restricted airspace has resulted in a situation where to visit an African country it is easier to fly out of the continent and then back in through some connector in the Gulf or Europe.

Entry into some African states is in some cases easier for non-Africans, even when the states share a common border.

The sum total of all this is a stunted air transport market, some of the highest airfares in the world, and a dismal share of global aviation, which for a long time has stagnated at just 1.9 percent.

Industry experts believe that, with its natural resource base - a huge and young populati...