12 Rare Aviation Services With Room to Grow in Africa

Some aviation services are found almost everywhere. Charter companies work in 96 countries. Maintenance companies work in 89. But other services sit in just a handful of countries. We checked 55 aviation services across 104 countries. In 12 of them, no company is based in Africa. In 8, none is based in Latin America or the Caribbean. That is a big opening for any company that offers these services.

The rarest aviation services

These ten services appear in the fewest countries. Charter and maintenance are shown for comparison.

Service	Companies	Countries	Share in the US	African countries	Latin American and Caribbean countries
Private jet cards	30	10	63%	0	1
Cleaning and detailing	78	11	55%	0	0
In-flight entertainment	49	11	47%	0	0
Aircraft tugs	44	16	30%	0	1
Registration and documentation	86	16	53%	0	1
Empty legs	72	16	49%	0	3
Salvage and recycling	89	17	62%	0	0
Weather services	31	17	32%	1	1
Equipment rental	85	19	40%	0	1
Real estate	72	20	56%	1	3
Charter (for comparison)	1,616	96	37%	14	17
Maintenance (for comparison)	2,119	89	53%	14	12

The US holds a big share of most rare services. It has 55 of the 89 recycling companies. It has 19 of the 30 jet card companies. In five of the ten rarest services, the US alone has more than half of all companies.

Aircraft recycling is led by the US

When an aircraft retires, it is often taken apart. Good parts can go back into service. The rest is scrapped or recycled. Our salvage and recycling page shows 89 companies in 17 countries.

• United States: 55
• United Kingdom: 7
• China: 5
• France: 4
• Netherlands: 3
• Ireland, Germany and the UAE: 2 each
• Turkey, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Iceland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia and Singapore: 1 each

No recycling company is based in Africa or in Latin America and the Caribbean. Fleets in both regions will retire jets in the years ahead. Aircraft recycling there is a market waiting for its first players.

Aircraft detailing in only 11 countries

Detailing means cleaning and polishing an aircraft, inside and out. Our cleaning and detailing page shows 78 companies in 11 countries. The US has 43 and the UK has 14. Australia has 6 and Singapore has 5.

Canada has none, so the US is the only North American country with a detailing company. Africa and Latin America have none either. Every airport with business jets is a possible customer.

Private jet cards in 10 countries

A jet card lets you prepay for flight hours. It is the rarest service by country count. Our private jet card page shows 30 companies in 10 countries. The US has 19 and the UK has 3. Eight other countries have 1 each: India, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, the UAE, Canada, the Dominican Republic and France.

Where Africa has room for new aviation services

Africa has at least one company in 43 of the 55 services. These 12 have none:

• Aircraft tugs
• Aviation telecommunication
• Cleaning and detailing
• Registration and documentation
• Empty legs
• In-flight entertainment
• Environmental services
• Equipment rental
• Aviation IT services
• Private jet cards
• Salvage and recycling
• Universities and research

Many other services have just one African country. For aircraft manufacturers, avionics, recruitment and startups, that country is South Africa.

Where Latin America has room

In Latin America and the Caribbean, 8 services have no company. They are aviation telecommunication, cleaning and detailing, in-flight entertainment, environmental services, aircraft finance, recruitment, salvage and recycling, and startups.

Aircraft finance is the big one. Our aircraft finance page shows 191 companies in 22 countries. The US has 118. None is in Latin America or the Caribbean. Three are in Africa: one each in Egypt, South Africa and Kenya.

Five services open in both regions

Five services have no company in Africa and none in Latin America and the Caribbean. The number is how many companies serve the rest of the world.

1. Aviation telecommunication (163 companies)
2. Cleaning and detailing (78)
3. In-flight entertainment (49)
4. Environmental services (94)
5. Salvage and recycling (89)

What this means

If you own an aircraft in Africa or Latin America, ask foreign providers if they serve your country. Do that before you ask for a quote.

If you run a company in one of these services, you would be one of very few in your region. Buyers who search for aviation services in your area will find fewer rivals. See our listing plans to get your company in front of them.

Source: company data held on The Flying Engineer aviation directory, country lists on each service category page, read October 2026.

Photo: Alan Wilson, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons