The team in numbers
Ten contributors across four desks. Five nationalities (South African, Nigerian, Kenyan, Ghanaian, and one Cape-Town-South-African of mixed heritage). Anchored in Johannesburg with field contributors in Lagos (Hajj and Managing-Editor desk), Nairobi (Aviation desk), Accra (Fare Analyst + intra-Africa), and Cape Town (Routes Reporter + Standards). Backgrounds include ex-Kenya Airways ground ops, ex-Premium Times metro editor, ex-Business Day senior writer, an academic linguist, and an aviation pricing analyst.
Single-byline policy
Every article on CheapFlightsAfrica is published under the single byline CheapFlightsAfrica Editorial Team. Three reasons:
- Editorial consistency across four registers (diaspora-warm, Hajj-formal-respectful, intra-Africa business-neutral, intra-Africa leisure).
- Source protection for editors holding sensitive industry contacts — current airline staff, NAHCON liaisons, SAHUC contacts, in-country Hajj coordinators in Saudi Arabia.
- Process accountability reflecting two-desk review before publishing: author + fact-checker from a different desk.
Editorial standards
- Two-source rule on YMYL topics (visa rules, Hajj packages, customs thresholds, baggage allowance), with at least one source being a national civil aviation regulator (SACAA, NCAA Nigeria, KCAA, GCAA), a recognised Hajj commission, or an airline IR filing.
- USD presented as the baseline pan-African reference. ZAR, NGN, KES, GHS, and other local currencies appear inline in parentheses where useful for the reader's market.
- Fare brackets pulled from weekly Aviasales / Travelpayouts snapshots — never boilerplate copy.
- Default perspective per cluster: African diaspora returnee, Hajj/Umrah pilgrim, intra-Africa connector, or business traveller.
- UK-English spelling and SI units throughout. No "color" / "favorite" / miles.
- Affiliate disclosure on every relevant page.
- No safari clichés, no "wild Africa" imagery, no poverty framing, no tribal-attire shorthand, no political commentary on apartheid or post-colonial history. Coverage is forward-looking and travel-pragmatic.
Meet the desks
Editorial Leadership
Naledi Mokoena
52 · Johannesburg · Editor-in-Chief
Fifteen years at Business Day before joining the masthead. Two of her brothers worked seven-year cycles on Gulf construction sites — gives her lived authenticity on Cluster A (African diaspora to the Gulf, UK, North America). Signs off on every YMYL article (visa rules, baggage allowance, pilgrimage paperwork).
Adeola Adebayo
46 · Lagos · Managing Editor
Ex-Premium Times metro editor. Runs the daily fact-check and adjudicates source disputes. Enforces the "two regulator sources or one airline IR filing" rule for fare and policy claims. Primary contact for dated corrections.
Aviation Desk
James Otieno
44 · Nairobi (JKIA) · Aviation Editor
Twelve years on Kenya Airways ground operations at Jomo Kenyatta International. Knows pilgrim group check-in flows, intra-African connecting traffic, and KCAA (Kenya Civil Aviation Authority) procedures inside-out.
Ama Owusu
28 · Accra · Fare Analyst
Pricing-data background from a Skyscanner research internship in London. Runs the weekly Travelpayouts refresh and writes our USD-baseline fare bracket methodology (with ZAR / NGN / KES / GHS shown inline).
Sipho Khumalo
34 · Cape Town · Routes Reporter
Aviation reporter since 2017. Attends SACAA briefings and AFRAA congresses. Tracks every new African intercontinental route from rumour through inaugural flight, with extra attention to intra-African connectivity gaps.
Cluster Desk
Aisha Bello
41 · Lagos · Hajj / Umrah Editor
Nigerian-Muslim editor; liaison to NAHCON (Nigerian Hajj Commission) and the South African Hajj & Umrah Council (SAHUC) for fact-checking. Does not interpret doctrine — always cites the relevant national Hajj regulator or recognised scholarly reference.
Thandi Dlamini
38 · Johannesburg (ex-London 2012-2022) · Diaspora Editor
Lived ten years in London (Brixton / Shepherd's Bush) before returning to Joburg in 2022. Covers Cluster A diaspora corridors: African families flying to / from UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia. Reads German conversationally.
Kwame Mensah
36 · Accra · Intra-Africa Editor
Covers Cluster C: intra-African routes, AfCFTA business travel, ECOWAS visa-on-arrival rules, and Gulf-hub transit (DXB / DOH / IST) for African passengers. Has flown every major intra-African corridor in the last five years.
Standards & Language
Dr Lerato van der Merwe
54 · Cape Town · Standards Editor
PhD in linguistics (Stellenbosch). Manages voice and register consistency across four clusters: diaspora-warm, Hajj-formal, intra-Africa business-neutral, intra-Africa leisure. Enforces UK-English spelling and SI units throughout.
Chinwe Okafor
29 · Lagos · Senior Fact-Checker
Six years in academic library research. Maintains the citation taxonomy: SACAA, NCAA Nigeria, KCAA Kenya, GCAA Ghana, IATA filings, AFRAA reports, airline IR pages, and national Hajj commission notices.
Contact + corrections
Email for stale fares, expired rules, or typos: [email protected] — corrections route to Adeola (Managing Editor) for 48-hour turnaround with a dated correction note on the affected article. Press, tips, and partnership inquiries use the same address. We do not accept paid placement; hotel and route reviews are always clearly marked with disclosure when published.
What CheapFlightsAfrica is NOT
We are not a travel agency. You book directly through Aviasales, Hotellook, Skyscanner, Trip.com, or Booking.com links; CheapFlightsAfrica earns a small commission at no additional cost to you, which funds our operation without pop-up ads or pay-to-play airline rankings.