Africa and Middle East route updates – April 2024
Highlights
Air Cairo
The airline will incorporate in the short term a “new” Airbus A320-200.
According to Skyliner-Aviation, the aircraft, ex Alaska Airlines, is currently in Miami Opa Locka undergoing final preparations prior to its incorporation to Air Cairo.
This Airbus A320 will soon receive the registration SU-BVQ, as it has the N641VA registry, which it used while operating for Alaska.
Air Cairo will reach 11 Airbus A320-200s in its fleet (SU-BPU, SU-BPV, SU-BPW, SU-BPX, SU-BPT, SU-BUJ, SU-BUU, SU-BUV, SU-BUW, SU-BVP and SU-BVQ).
In addition, the company has 14 A320neos, which are on average 2 years old.
Air C?te d’Ivoire
TU-TRF, the registration of Air C?te d’Ivoire’s new Airbus A319.
The plane is 8 years old and will shortly begin services. At present, the A319 is in Johannesburg after arriving from Marana via San Juan (Puerto Rico), Dakar and Pointe Noire.
Air C?te d’Ivoire fleet
Airbus A319
Airbus A320
Dash 8
?
Between 2016 and 2023, the Airbus A319 TU-TRF operated for Avianca with the registry N751AV.
Airlink
Last April 15th, Airlink’s Embraer 195AR, registration ZS-YDF, entered service.
This airplane had been incorporated by the African company in November 2023, after being inactive for almost four years after its withdrawal from Saratov Airlines, a Russian carrier.
Airlink has six Embraer 195s, five of which are active. The one registered as ZS-YDG has been grounded at Johannesburg airport since October 2023.
Brussels Airlines
The airline will add frequencies on the Brussels – Freetown (Sierra Leone) – Monrovia (Liberia) – Brussels route as of August 20th.
As can be seen on its website, Brussels Airlines will expand from three to four flights per week.
Tuesday, Friday and Sunday
Service to be added on Mondays.
The four weekly will be until September 3rd, returning to the current schedule. In late October, it will increase again to 4.
Brussels Airlines routes to/from Africa
Angola/Democratic Republic of the Congo
?Benin/Ivory Coast
?Burkina Faso/Ivory Coast
?Burundi/Uganda
Cameroon
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Gambia
?Ghana
?Guinea
?Ivory Coast/Benin
?Ivory Coast/Ghana
?Rwanda/Uganda
?Senegal
?Sierra Leone/Liberia
?Togo
Camair-Co
During May, the Cameroonian carrier will launch three new routes from/to Douala airport, its main base.
These connections will be Brazzaville, Cotonou, Libreville and Pointe Noire, with the following schedule:
Cotonou · May 13th
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday
?Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday
Libreville and Pointe Noire · May 13th
Monday, Thursday and Saturday
?
Brazzaville · May 28th
Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday
?Flights to Brazzaville and Cotonou will be operated by Boeing 737-700s, and those to Libreville and Pointe Noire using Embraer 175s.
Emirates
The airline resumed services with Airbus A380 aircraft between Dubai and Riyadh last April 1st.
From the current three daily frequencies, Emirates will operate one of them using these aircraft, while the other two will be on Boeing 777-300s.
Airbus A380-800
Boeing 777
?Emirates’ routes to/from Saudi Arabia
?The last Emirates flights between Dubai and Riyadh, with Airbus A380-800s, had been in 2020.
Ethiopian
Warsaw, Ethiopian Airlines’ new connection in Europe.
The company will begin operations in July, and will be the only one to operate from/to Addis Ababa.
In accordance with its website, Ethiopian will offer four services a week on Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft under this schedule:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
?
Athens, Brussels, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Geneva, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Manchester, Marseille, Milan, Oslo, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna and Zurich are Ethiopian Airlines’ current connections in the European continent.
Etihad
Effective June 25th, Etihad schedules to launch flights between Abu Dhabi and Bali (Denpasar). The carrier will offer four weekly operations with the 290-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
?As for other Indonesian cities, Etihad operates 11 services per week between Abu Dhabi and Jakarta on Boeing 777-300(ER) and Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner aircraft.
In addition, Etihad Airways’ first Airbus A321NX was recently spotted. The plane, which currently has the registration 2-AECC, will soon join the airline.
flydubai
Between April 18th and the 22nd, flydubai inaugurated two new connections in the Dubai – Saudi Arabia market, bringing the carrier’s total number of routes to 18.
Operations will be performed on 186-seat Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets.
Red Sea Project · April 18th
Thursday and Sunday
Sakaka · April 22nd
Monday and Thursday
flydubai routes between DXB and Saudi Arabia
Fly Lili
The Romanian-based charter airline will launch three seasonal routes to Africa starting in June.
领英推荐
According to its website, Fly Lili will operate with its Airbus A320-200s configured for 180 passengers.
Egypt
Tunisia
Jordan Aviation
Last March 30th, the company inaugurated flights between Amman and Moscow Domodedovo. In line with our database, Jordan Aviation will have two weekly services with the 176-seat Airbus A320-200 jets.
Saturday
Jordan Aviation will fly to/from Amman as follows:
Saturday/Wednesday
Norse Atlantic UK
The airline announced from October 28th it will commence operations between London and Cape Town.
Norse Atlantic UK will serve this route three times a week with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, in accordance to its website.
Monday, Wednesday and Saturday
Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday
Routes between the UK and South Africa
Norse Atlantic UK
The airline announced from October 28th it will commence operations between London and Cape Town.
Norse Atlantic UK will serve this route three times a week with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, in accordance to its website.
Monday, Wednesday and Saturday
Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday
Routes between the UK and South Africa
Oman Air
More flights to Lucknow, India.
As can be seen in our database, Oman Air increased its flights between Muscat and Lucknow in early April, reaching ten weekly.
Daily
Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
Previously, it had a daily frequency.
Air India Express and SalamAir, in addition to Oman Air, operate between the two cities, with seven and three services per week, respectively.
Qatar
Beginning June 1st, Qatar Airways will inaugurate a new destination in Africa.
The company will offer four weekly flights on a combined route with Luanda (Angola) using Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft seating 254 passengers.
Monday and Saturday
?
Thursday and Friday
?
Additionally, Qatar will boost from one to four operations a week to Luanda.
Saudia
Effective May 11th, Abuja, Nigeria, will join Saudia’s regular schedule.
Operations will be conducted three weekly with Boeing 777-300(ER) aircraft, under the following schedule:
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
?
Kano is Saudi Arabian Airlines’ only current destination in Nigeria.
Serve Air Cargo
The cargo airline of the Democratic Republic of the Congo confirmed the addition of its second Boeing 737-800(F). At the moment, the nearly 22-year-old aircraft has the registration N157TS.
On April 17th, as can be seen in our database, the Boeing 737 arrived in Kinshasa from Dothan (DHT) via Espargos.
South African Airways
South African’s routes from Cape Town and Johannesburg
Cape Town
South Africa
?
Brazil
?
Johannesburg
Australia
?
Brazil
?
Democratic Republic of the Congo
?
Ghana
?
Ivory Coast
?
Mauritius
?
Namibia
?
Nigeria
?
South Africa
?
Zambia
?
Zimbabwe
Transavia
The company will begin operating flights between Toulouse and Dubai starting October 27th. These services, which are already on sale, will be carried out twice a week with Boeing 737-800s.
Monday and Friday
?
Tuesday and Saturday
?
Currently, from/to Toulouse-Blagnac airport, the French airline has only one route (TLS-Brest on Boeing 737-800 aircraft).
New aircraft deliveries in April
Read our other reports for April 2024
Author: Sebastián Polito