African Decolonisation and Air Transportation

This paper focuses on the geographical distribution of air transportation growth in sub-Saharan Africa, paying attention to the overhanging legacy effects of European colonisation. The role of the colonial pasts on air movements between 1998 and 2011 is examined to see if patterns of supply have changed, and if there has been movement away from linkages that may have existed within the colonial blocks. Focusing on the former French and British colonies, we find evidence of residual linkages between countries within these blocks, although the exact patterns are somewhat different to much of the conventional wisdom regarding colonial legacies.