Search

Africa and Middle East route updates – January 2024

Share this article

We have reached the end of the January report about airline routes and fleets. To read the previous sections, you can click on the following links:

 

Regarding highlights of the month, we have many new developments between both markets of this section, Africa and Middle East, as well as new routes to Europe and the return of an airline to Australia from an important African hub.

Highlights

  • Air Arabia expands routes to/from Europe.

 

  • Air Côte d’Ivoire schedules new routes to Europe and the United States.

 

  • Al Ula airport (ULH) adds two new connections in February.

 

  • Ethiopian acquired a new Boeing 737 MAX 8.

 

  • flydubai began operations to Kenya.

 

  • Oman Air plans to reduce frequencies on part of its routes to Asia.

 

  • South African Airways will launch flights to Australia, its second market outside the African continent.

 

Air Arabia

Athens and Krakow, new Air Arabia destinations in Europe.

The company will start operations between Sharjah and Athens on June 28th. In line with its website, it will offer four weekly flights with Airbus A320.

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday

Additionally, beginning June 29th, the airline will launch services to Krakow, where it will fly once a day on Airbus A320-200s with a capacity of 186 passengers.

Daily except Friday

 

On Fridays it will depart Sharjah at 10:10 and 15:05 from Krakow.

Air Côte d’Ivoire

The Ivorian flag carrier announced plans to inaugurate new routes from Abidjan, the country’s capital, as published by the site Punch.

Beirut, Geneva, London, New York, Paris and Washington are the upcoming destinations in Air Côte d’Ivoire’s future planning, although there is no official information at this time about possible start dates.

The company has 9 aircraft in its fleet, and all its routes are within Africa.

Fleet

AircraftRegistrationAge
Airbus A319-115TU-TSY15 years
Airbus A319-115TU-TSZ15 years
Airbus A320-214TU-TSV6 years
Airbus A320-214TU-TSW6 years
Airbus A320-251NTU-TSX3 years
Dash 8-400TU-TSI8 years
Dash 8-400TU-TSK9 years
Dash 8-400TU-TSL9 years
Dash 8-400TU-TSQ7 years

Air France

The airline will modify the operating schedule to Djibouti as of April 3rd. Air France currently offers weekly service with Airbus A350-900 aircraft (324 seats).

According to its reservation system, the company will begin using only the 280-seat Boeing 777-200(ER) jets on this route from/to Paris.

Flight frequency remains unchanged.

Wednesday

 

Thursday

 

Paris and Istanbul are regular destinations in Europe from Djibouti.

Emirates

Effective January 1st, 2025, Emirates plans to increase to daily its flights between Dubai and Addis Ababa. The carrier has six operations per week on Boeing 777-300(ER) airplanes.

Daily except Thursday (currently)

 

Emirates routes to/from Africa

Map by gcmap.com
  • Abidjan (ABJ): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER) – via ACC
  • Accra (ACC): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
  • Addis Ababa (ADD): 6 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
  • Cairo (CAI): 28 weekly · A380/77W
  • Cape Town (CPT): 14 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
  • Casablanca (CMN): 7 weekly · Airbus A380
  • Conakry (CKY): 4 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER) · CKY-DXB is via DKR
  • Dakar (DKR): 4 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
  • Dar-es-Salaam (DAR): 6 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
  • Durban (DUR): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
  • Entebbe (EBB): 5 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
  • Harare (HRE): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER) – via LUN
  • Johannesburg (JNB): 21 weekly · A380/77W
  • Luanda (LAD): 4 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
  • Lusaka (LUN): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
  • Nairobi (NBO): 14 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
  • Port Louis (MRU): 14 weekly · Airbus A380
  • Victoria (SEZ): 12 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)

 

It also offers flights to other African cities, with Emirates SkyCargo.

Ethiopian Airlines

The company added a new Boeing 737 MAX 8 from Boeing’s Everett (PAE) factory. The aircraft, registered ET-BAN, arrived in Addis Ababa last January 14th with a stopover in Dublin.

According to our database, the MAX entered service on January 15th covering flight ET 939 to N’Djamena.

Fleet

  • Airbus A350-900: 20
  • Boeing 737-700: 3
  • Boeing 737-800: 11
  • Boeing 737 MAX 8: 16
  • Boeing 767-300: 3
  • Boeing 777-200: 6
  • Boeing 777-300(ER): 4
  • Boeing 777(F): 10
  • DHC-8-400: 31

 

Etihad

Starting May 1st, Etihad will resume services between Abu Dhabi and Nairobi, a route it has had suspended since late 2021. The carrier will have a daily flight with Airbus A320 jets, in line with its website.

Daily

FlyAO (Fly Angola)

The Luanda-based airline plans to start flights to São Tomé and Príncipe from February 29th. FlyAO schedules two services a week on 50-seat Embraer 145s As listed on its reservation system.

Thursday and Sunday

flydubai

Last January 17th, flydubai inaugurated its regular operations to Mombasa, Kenya. The United Arab Emirates airline will fly to/from Dubai with Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, four weekly.

Monday and Friday

 

Wednesday and Sunday

 

flydubai routes to Africa

Map by gcmap.com
  • Addis Ababa (ADD): 7 weekly · Boeing 737-800
  • Alexandria (HBE): 9 weekly · B738/B7M8
  • Asmara (ASM): 8 weekly · B738/B7M8
  • Dar-es-Salaam (DAR): 7 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8 – via ZNZ
  • Djibouti (JIB): 3 weekly · Boeing 737-800
  • Entebbe (EBB): 10 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
  • Giza (SPX): 7 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
  • Hargeisa (HGA): 6 weekly · B738/B7M8
  • Juba (JUB): 3 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 9
  • Mogadishu (MGQ): 4 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
  • Mombasa (MBA): 4 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
  • Zanzibar (ZNZ): 19 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8

 

Gulf Air

The company will inaugurate seasonal services between Bahrain and Al Ula, Saudi Arabia, on February 3rd. In accordance with its website, Gulf Air will operate twice a week using the 174-seat Airbus A320neo.

Wednesday

 

Saturday

 

Flights will not be available between March 7th and April 9th.

Kenya Airways

Beginning March 31st, Kenya Airways will expand its services between Nairobi and Bujumbura, Burundi. Currently, with Embraer 190 airplanes, the airline offers a daily flight on this route.

Monday, Wednesday and Sunday

 

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday

 

New flight

Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

 

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

 

Kuwait Airways

The airline will boost operations to Vienna as of June 14th. This route, which operates from the country’s capital, is seasonal, and starts 12 days before this increase.

Kuwait Airways will expand from three to four services per week.

Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

 

On June 14th, a Friday flight will be added.

Oman Air

Effective March 31st, Oman Air is scheduling reductions on some of its routes to Asia. These are:

Map by gcmap.com
  • Bangkok (BKK): from 18 to 14 weekly · Boeing 787-9
  • Kuala Lumpur (KUL): from 8 to 4 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
  • Phuket (HKT): from 7 to 4 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8

 

Qatar Airways

The company has changed the aircraft used on the Doha – Luanda route since January 18th. Qatar used to operate with the 254-seat Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, and switched to Airbus A330-300s, which offer 51 more seats.

The frequency remains the same.

Thursday

 

Friday

 

Royal Jordanian

A few weeks after Gulf Air’s start-up to Al Ula, Royal Jordanian will begin operations to the Saudi Arabian city from Amman.

The flights, which are scheduled year-round, will be offered twice weekly with Embraer 195 aircraft.

Tuesday and Friday · eff Feb 16th

 

Routes from/to Al Ula airport

Map by gcmap.com
  • Amman (AMM): 2 weekly · Royal Jordanian
  • Bahrain (BAH): 2 weekly · Gulf Air
  • Cairo (CAI): 2 weekly · Flynas
  • Dammam (DMM): 2 weekly · Flynas
  • Doha (DOH): 2 weekly · Qatar
  • Dubai (DXB): 2 weekly · flydubai
  • Jeddah (JED): 6 weekly · Saudia
  • Riyadh (RUH): 4 weekly · Flynas
  • Riyadh (RUH): 4 weekly · Saudia

 

Saudia

The airline will boost its seating capacity on the Jeddah – Birmingham route by increasing flights with Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner jets.

It currently has three services a week, two on 787-9s and the remaining on 787-10.

Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

 

Saudia, from March 31st, will start operating two weekly flights with 787-10s and the other with a 787-9.

Seats per aircraft

  • Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner: 298
  • Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner: 357

 

Somon Air

The company will expand its services to the Middle East in February, with the launch of two new routes from Khudzhand, in Tajikistan.

Both segments will be operated with Boeing 737-800 aircraft configured for 189 passengers.

Map by gcmap.com
  • Dubai (DXB): 1 weekly · flight SZ 155/156
  • Jeddah (JED): 1 weekly · flight SZ 157/158

 

South African Airways

Effective April 28th, South African will inaugurate flights between Johannesburg and Perth. The carrier will operate three weekly with Airbus A340-300 jets.

Australia will be South African Airways’ second intercontinental market after Brazil, where it offers services to/from Sao Paulo.

Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

 

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

 

South African will be the only company with operations on this route.

Qantas offers five services per week between Sydney and Johannesburg on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, in terms of the Australia – South Africa market.

World2Fly

The airline will commence seasonal flights between Spain and Tanzania from June 28th. According to its website, World2Fly will have a weekly service using Airbus A330-300 aircraft until early September.

Thursday

 

Friday

 

 


 

Cover photo: Goncalo Guimaraes – JetPhotos (Zanzibar, Tanzania).

On The Radar Logo

Get the latest aviation news delivered to you

Get the latest aviation news delivered to you

Flight tracking and aviation industry news direct to your inbox

Aviation news comes quickly, so join more than 1.7 million others who receive weekly aviation industry and flight tracking news from Flightradar24 direct to their inbox.

Share this article
Latest threads
Latest video

Most wanted airport receiver locations

We’re always looking for additional receiver hosts in areas that either lack coverage or need additional coverage. Help us grow the Flightradar24 ADS-B network.

Trending articles
On The Radar Logo
Get weekly updates on Flightradar24 and have the latest aviation news land in your inbox.
AvTalk Logo

AvTalk Episode 315: Growth has “largely stalled”

Most wanted airport receiver locations

We’re always looking for additional receiver hosts in areas that either lack coverage or need additional coverage. Help us grow the Flightradar24 ADS-B network.

How flight tracking works

Flightradar24 combines data from several data sources including ADS-B, MLAT and radar data.
Search the blog
Follow us
Latest AvTalk Podcasts
More stories
An example full flight summary response from the Flightradar24 API: { "data": [ { "fr24_id": "0987654321", "flight": "SK1415", "callsign": "SAS1415", "operated_as": "SAS", "painted_as": "SAS", "type": "A20N", "reg": "SE-DOY", "orig_icao": "ESSA", "orig_iata": "ARN", "datetime_takeoff": "2023-01-27T05:15:22", "runway_takeoff": "12R", "dest_icao": "EKCH", "dest_iata": "CPH", "dest_icao_actual": "EPWA", "dest_iata_actual": "WAW", "datetime_landed": "2023-01-27T06:15:10", "runway_landed": "27L", "flight_time": 3600, "actual_distance": 1007.74, "circle_distance": 6245, "category": "Passenger", "hex": "4A91F9", "first_seen": "2023-01-27T05:06:22", "last_seen": "2023-01-27T06:18:10", "flight_ended": "true" } ] }
Flightradar24’s new and powerful API continues to grow, and the Flight summary API endpoint is our latest addition. Flight summary is our most requested…
What happens when an aircraft ingests not a bird, but a rabbit into the engine? Passengers on a United Airlines found out this month….
Do you live or work near London’s busiest airport? We’re looking to boost flight tracking coverage around London Heathrow Airport (LHR), and we need…

Flight tracking top 10 aircraft

Explore the top 10 most tracked aircraft and find out why these particular aircraft draw so much interest.

Help to grow our flight tracking coverage

We are continually looking to improve our flight tracking and the airports below are where new receivers will add the most coverage. Apply for a receiver today and if accepted you’ll receiver a free Flightradar24 Business Subscription.

Free ADS-B Receiver
Flightradar24 logo
Try the full Flightradar24 experience free for 7 days
Remove ads and unlock over 50 additional features
On The Radar Logo

Get the Flightradar24 Aviation newsletter

Flight tracking and aviation industry news direct to your inbox

Aviation news comes quickly, so we want to bring more of the aviation world to you with our weekly Flightradar24 aviation newsletter - On The Radar.

On The Radar Logo