We conclude the December world aviation market update with the post about Africa and the Middle East. To see the previous editions, you can click on the following links:
- United States and Canada – December 2023.
- Latin America – December 2023.
- Europe – December 2023.
- Asia and Oceania – December 2023.
Regarding routes, we can highlight the important expansion that Ryanair will have in Morocco, in the international sector as well as in the domestic market, with flights within the country.
In addition, between June and July 2024, Qatar Airways will begin two new connections to Europe from Doha’s Hamad International Airport. In both cases, these will be operated by Boeing 787s.
On the other hand, concerning the addition of aircraft to the airlines, Ibom Air, a Nigerian company based in Uyo, incorporated its first Airbus A220-300, which arrived from Canada.
This is a major development for Ibom Air’s fleet, planning to add two more by 2024. Apart from the A220s, the airline has Airbus A320s and CRJ-900s.
Air Algérie
According to its website, Air Algérie postpones the start of operations to Ethiopia to 2024. The company had planned to inaugurate non-stop services with its Airbus A330 last December 15th, but finally did not start.
Beginning in April, Air Algérie plans to launch flights on this route with some changes, as these will be operated using Boeing 737-800 aircraft and making a stopover in N’Djamena, Chad, in both directions. The schedule is as follows:
Monday and Friday
- AH 5370 Algiers ALG 10:45 · 14:55 NDJ N’Djamena
- AH 5370 N’Djamena NDJ 15:55 · 21:55 ADD Addis Ababa
- AH 5371 Addis Ababa ADD 22:55 · 00:55+1 NDJ N’Djamena
- AH 5371 N’Djamena NDJ 01:25+1 · 05:35+1 ALG Algiers
Air Arabia
As of January 10th, 2024, Air Arabia will commence services between Sharjah and Kabul, Afghanistan. The carrier will offer daily operation with Airbus A320-200s, as detailed on its website.
Daily
- G9 718 Sharjah SHJ 04:25 · 07:50 KBL Kabul
- G9 719 Kabul KBL 08:50 · 12:05 SHJ Sharjah
Air Cairo
The inaugural Air Cairo flight from Aswan arrived in Jeddah at 12:45 local time on December 20th. The airline will operate a weekly service on 180-seat Airbus A320 aircraft.
Wednesday
- SM 479 Aswan ASW 10:10 · 12:45 JED Jeddah
- SM 480 Jeddah JED 13:55 · 14:50 ASW Aswan
Air Cairo routes from Jeddah
- Alexandria (HBE): 12 weekly · Airbus A320
- Assiut (ATZ): 7 weekly · Airbus A320
- Aswan (ASW): 1 weekly · Airbus A320
- Cairo (CAI): 22 weekly · Airbus A320
- Luxor (LXR): 2 weekly · Airbus A320
- Sohag (HMB): 6 weekly · Airbus A320
In the case of Aswan, Abu Simbel, Cairo and Jeddah are the carrier’s connections.
EGYPTAIR
The company will have changes in its Cairo – Juba operations in April 2024. At present, EGYPTAIR offers three weekly services, which will be reduced to two.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday · currently
During April, it will not operate on Wednesdays. The current frequency will return in May.
Emirates
As of June 1st, 2024, Emirates will resume flights to Nice with Airbus A380-800s. The airline currently operates once daily on Boeing 777-300(ER) jets.
Daily · no changes
Lyon, Nice and Paris are Emirates’ destinations in France.
Ethiopian Airlines
A new Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 arrived in Addis Ababa last December 17th. The aircraft has the registration ET-BAL and landed from Everett via Dublin.
Ethiopian reaches 14 Boeing 737 MAXs in its fleet, and shortly plans to add another, which will be registered ET-BAN.
Fleet
- Airbus A350-900: 20
- Boeing 737-700: 4
- Boeing 737-800: 11
- Boeing 737 MAX 8: 14
- Boeing 767-300: 3
- Boeing 777-200: 6
- Boeing 777-300(ER): 4
- Boeing 777(F): 10
- Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner: 19
- Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner: 10
- De Havilland Canada DHC-8-400: 31
Etihad
The carrier will increase its services between Abu Dhabi and Barcelona from March 31st, 2024. Etihad offers seven opartions a week with Boeing 787-9 and Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner aircraft.
Daily
- EY 49 Abu Dhabi AUH 02:50 · 07:05 BCN Barcelona
- EY 50 Barcelona BCN 10:25 · 19:30 AUH Abu Dhabi
Wednesday, Friday and Sunday · new
- EY 113 Abu Dhabi AUH 14:30 · 19:35 BCN Barcelona
- EY 114 Barcelona BCN 21:45 · 06:05+1 AUH Abu Dhabi
FastJet
In early November, FastJet boosted its flight frequency between Bulawayo and Johannesburg. The company increased from 7 to 12 weekly services.
Flights will be performed on 50-seat Embraer 145 planes.
Daily
- FN 8664 Johannesburg JNB 16:15 · 17:35 BUQ Bulawayo
- FN 8664 Bulawayo BUQ 18:10 · 19:35 JNB Johannesburg
Daily except Saturday and Sunday · new
- FN 8662 Johannesburg JNB 06:50 · 08:10 BUQ Bulawayo
- FN 8661 Bulawayo BUQ 08:50 · 10:10 JNB Johannesburg
flyadeal
Saudi Arabia’s low-cost carrier added a new Airbus A320neo to its fleet in the beginning of December. The aircraft, registered as HZ-FBF, arrived in Jeddah from Toulouse.
The A320neo entered service on December 12th, being Jeddah – Dammam its first scheduled flight (F3 317).
Fleet
- Airbus A320-200: 11
- Airbus A320neo: 21
flydubai
Effective June 16th, 2024, flydubai plans to resume services between Dubai and Izmir, Türkiye. The company schedules three weekly flights on Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets.
Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday
flydubai routes to Türkiye
Gulf Air
On Thursday, December 28th, Gulf Air took delivery of the Airbus A321neo with registration A9C-XD, the 12th in its fleet.
The airline made an order for 17 A321neo in 2016, with the first of them being incorporated in August 2020.
Gulf Air’s Airbus A321neo
The A9C-N* aircraft have 166 seats, while the A9C-X* have 192.
Ibom Air
Last December 8th, the first Airbus A220 for Ibom Air arrived in Nigeria from Montreal with a stopover in Toulouse. The plane is currently in Uyo (QUO) awaiting its entry into service.
Ibom Air is scheduled to add two more Airbus A220s during the second half of 2024, and seven more later.
The Nigerian carrier’s fleet consists of the following:
- Airbus A220-300: 1
- Airbus A320-200: 2
- CRJ-900: 5
Kuwait Airways
The company confirmed that it will add capacity on its Kuwait City – Málaga route, which will start on June 16th, 2024 as it is a seasonal service.
Kuwait Airways was scheduled to operate with Airbus A330-800neo, but will use its Boeing 777-300(ER).
The Boeing 777s have 99 more seats than the A330neo.
Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
- KU 121 Kuwait City KWI 07:40 · 13:40 AGP Málaga
- KU 122 Málaga AGP 15:10 · 22:30 KWI Kuwait City
Barcelona and Madrid are the airline’s current destinations in Spain.
Qatar Airways
The carrier will launch two new routes from Doha between June and July 2024. In both cases, these will be cities in Europe, served by 213-seat Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.
Hamburg · Daily
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
- QR 089 Doha DOH 08:35 · 14:10 HAM Hamburg
- QR 090 Hamburg HAM 15:40 · 22:40 DOH Doha
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
- QR 091 Doha DOH 02:15 · 07:50 HAM Hamburg
- QR 092 Hamburg HAM 09:20 · 16:20 DOH Doha
Venice · Daily
- QR 125 Doha DOH 09:00 · 14:20 VCE Venice
- QR 126 Venice VCE 16:50 · 23:10 DOH Doha
Hamburg will be the company’s fifth destination in Germany, and will reach three in Italy with Venice.
Royal Air Maroc
For the 2024 peak season, Royal Air Maroc will boost its flights to the United States and Canada during June and July. The services will be carried out with Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets.
Schedule
- Casablanca (CMN) – Miami (MIA): 3 to 4 weekly · July 16th, 2024
- Casablanca (CMN) – Montreal (YUL): 12 to 14 weekly · June 13th, 2024
- Casablanca (CMN) – New York (JFK): 13 to 14 weekly · July 18th, 2024
- Casablanca (CMN) – Washington (IAD): 5 to 6 weekly · June 22nd, 2024
Royal Jordanian
The airline plans to begin flights to Stockholm with Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft from March 11th, 2024. Royal Jordanian currently operates with Airbus A320s and Airbus A321s.
Monday and Thursday
- RJ 123 Amman AMM 11:00 · 14:15 ARN Stockholm
- RJ 124 Stockholm ARN 15:15 · 22:00 AMM Amman
In line with its website, the Monday flight will be provided with the Dreamliners.
Ryanair
The low cost carrier confirmed it will have a major expansion in Morocco starting in March 2024. Operations will be performed with its Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX 8-200, according to their website:
Agadir
- Birmingham (BHM): 4 weekly · April 1st, 2024
- Bournemouth (BOH): 2 weekly · April 1st, 2024
- Edinburgh (EDI): 2 weekly · April 1st, 2024
- Fez (FEZ): 2 weekly · April 1st, 2024
- Oujda (OUD): 2 weekly · April 2nd, 2024
- Tangier (TNG): 2 weekly · April 2nd, 2024
Beni Mellal
- Girona (GRO): 3 weekly · May 3rd, 2024
Fez
- Zaragoza (ZAZ): 2 weekly · April 3rd, 2024
Marrakech
- Birmingham (BHM): 4 weekly · March 31st, 2024
- Bristol (BRS): 2 weekly · April 1st, 2024
- Errachidia (ERH): 2 weekly · March 31st, 2024
- Faro (FAO): 3 weekly · March 31st, 2024
- Fez (FEZ): 4 weekly · March 31st, 2024
- La Rochelle (LRH): 2 weekly · June 4th, 2024
- Lanzarote (ACE): 2 weekly · June 3rd, 2024
- Leeds (LBA): 2 weekly · March 31st, 2024
- Milan (MXP): 4 weekly · April 1st, 2024
- Murcia (RMU): 2 weekly · April 3rd, 2024
- Oujda (OUD): 3 weekly · March 31st, 2024
- Tangier (TNG): 3 weekly · March 31st, 2024
- Tenerife (TFS): 2 weekly · June 2nd, 2024
- Tetuan (TTU): 2 weekly · March 31st, 2024
Tangier
- Barcelona (BCN): 3 weekly · May 2nd, 2024
- Carcassonne (CCF): 3 weekly · May 1st, 2024
- Eindhoven (EIN): 2 weekly · May 4th, 2024
- Essaouira (ESU): 2 weekly · May 4th, 2024
- Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden (FKB): 2 weekly · April 1st, 2024
- Lisbon (LIS): 3 weekly · May 2nd, 2024
- Manchester (MAN): 2 weekly · April 1st, 2024
- Memmingen (FMM): 2 weekly · March 31st, 2024
- Ouarzazate (OZZ): 2 weekly · May 4th, 2024
- Oujda (OUD): 3 weekly · May 2nd, 2024
- Porto (OPO): 2 weekly · April 2nd, 2024
Safair
Starting April 2nd, 2024, Safair plans to commence flights to Kruger Mpumalanga. Operations will be carried out from Cape Town, twice a week.
Tuesday and Saturday
- FA 670 Cape Town CPT 09:00 · 11:30 MQP Kruger Mpumalanga
- FA 671 Kruger Mpumalanga MQP 12:05 · 14:50 CPT Cape Town
Nelspruit Kruger Mpumalanga Airport has the following routes:
- Cape Town (CPT): 13 weekly · Airlink
- Durban (DUR): 6 weekly · Airlink
- Johannesburg (JNB): 36 weekly · Airlink
- Livingstone (LVI): 4 weekly · Airlink
- Victoria Falls (VFA): 6 weekly · Fastjet
- Vilankulo (VNX): 4 weekly · Airlink
Saudia
As of January 5th, 2024, Saudia will increase its services between Jeddah and London Gatwick. The Saudi airline operates this route with Boeing 787-9 and Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner aircraft.
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday
- SV 101 Jeddah JED 08:15/20/25 · 12:10/15/20 LGW London
- SV 100 London LGW 13:35/45/55 · 22:25/35/45 JED Jeddah
The company will add a new flight on Fridays.
South African Airways
The carrier made a minor change to its schedule between Sao Paulo and Cape Town effective December 6th. South African inaugurated services in late October, marking the airline’s return to Brazil after almost four years.
Tuesday and Saturday
- SA 226 Cape Town CPT 12:55 · 16:35 GRU Sao Paulo
Saturday · no changes
- SA 227 Sao Paulo GRU 18:05 · 06:40+1 CPT Cape Town
Wednesday · flight during the night
- SA 227 Sao Paulo GRU 00:05 · 12:40 CPT Cape Town
In addition to Cape Town, SAA operates two weekly flights between Johannesburg and Sao Paulo with the same aircraft (Airbus A330).
Tunisair
The company intends to resume operations between Tunis and Lisbon from May 6th, 2024. In line with its website, Tunisair will fly once weekly with the following schedule:
Monday
- TU 318 Tunis TUN 19:40 · 22:30 LIS Lisbon
- TU 319 Lisbon LIS 23:40 · 02:20+1 TUN Tunis
Services will be performed on Airbus A319s.
Cover photo: Arjun Sarup – JetPhotos (Dubai).
