While it's fairly easy to connect Africa to other continents using commercial airlines, connecting Africa with Africa presents a greater challenge to businesses.

Factoring in the developing infrastructure, challenging geo-political conditions and the sheer size of the continent, private jet travel in Africa can be viewed as less of a status symbol and more as a sound investment.

While the international private jet market has seen a downturn since the global financial and economic crisis, the number of jets sold in the continent has grown significantly.

There are now over 400 jets in Africa, and the recently-formed African Business Aviation Association (AfBAA) estimates that the number could even be as high as 600 when factoring in jets registered offshore and leased back to the owners.

Part of this is explained by the fact that resource-rich Sub-Saharan Africa has become a highly attractive market for foreign investors in the last decade - particularly the booming Asian economies.

Alex Berry, Chapman Freeborn's Group Sales and Marketing Director, notes: "The continent is vast both in terms of its geographical size and the opportunities it presents as an emerging market. Economic growth in sectors such as energy, minerals and telecommunications is fuelling the soaring demand for intra-Africa and intercontinental flying."

Multinational corporations are more than willing to pay extra for private jet travel as it can make a huge difference in offering a fast, flexible and secure way to travel around Africa.

However, while the business travel benefits are clear - the rapid growth of private aviation in Africa is not without its issues.

South Africa remains a dominant player in the jet market (the country accounts for around a quarter of the entire Gulfstream fleet in Africa), but Nigeria in particular has seen a rapid growth in private jet ownership in recent years - spending as much as $6.5 billion on new jets according to a special report in the Nigerian national newspaper Punch.

It is said that in 2007 there was only around 20 private jets in Nigeria, this number has swelled over the years and in 2013 the estimated number stands at 180 privately-owned jets.

To address the issue of the growing ranks of jets registered abroad, Nigeria recently reviewed its National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) in 2013 and decreed that all foreign-registered private jets will not be allowed to stay in the country beyond 15 days.

The same review also puts in place measures to try and address the problem of the 'grey market' - the unregulated use of privately-owned jets for commercial charters. NCAP 2013 has now sanctioned jet owners against permitting third-party associates aboard private aircraft.

However, the fact remains that Nigeria is already a highly-fertile market for the private jet industry - second only to China in terms of growth last year.

A growing number of potential jet buyers seek to finance their aircraft through chartering them out, which in turn offers a gap in the market for private jet charter companies and employment for maintenance staff and operations teams.

This results in a private jet operators dream, as Nigeria has a large number of multinationals which operate in very remote locations - meaning there is already demand for private jet charter services.

It's a similar story in several parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, which is still seeing economic growth of over five per cent.

With emerging markets now accounting for over 30 per cent of new private jet deliveries, Africa will be a key battleground for the major jet manufacturers in future years (alongside Latin America and the Asia-Pacific).

According to Chapman Freeborn's South Africa team, jets like the Hawker 800XP, Hawker 4000 and Nextant 400XT are currently among the most common types for charter clients in Africa, as well as lighter jets like the Learjet 45 and Premier I.

www.chapman-freeborn.com