Physical infrastructure is not the most serious problem affecting air transport in Africa. The number of airports is stable, and there are enough runways to handle traffic if scheduling were improved and modest investments were made here and there in parallel taxiways and terminal facilities. Runway quality is an issue in just a handful of smaller airports that handle relatively little traffic. There is some evidence of inadequate passenger terminal capacity in a few of the larger airports.
Except in South Africa and Kenya, air traffic control is inadequate. Addis Ababa, for example, uses no civilian radar, forcing extra distance and time separations between aircraft. Even where the equipment exists, radar procedures (and radar separations) are not always implemented.
HHand in hand with traffic surveillance is the capability for aircraft communication to and from the ground. There are areas in Africa where an airliner could fly for more than an hour and not be able to make contact with the ground. Revenues from airports and air traffic are probably high enough to finance the necessary investments, but the sector does not capture them. The problem is political and organizational.