Discover Airlines has announced it will commence flights to the Seychelles as of October 26th, 2025. The company will operate the Frankfurt – Victoria – Port Louis (Mauritius) route with Airbus A330-300 aircraft configured for 283 passengers (30 Business, 28 Premium Economy and 225 Economy), two times a week.

Seychelles will become Discover’s eighth market in Africa, all of which are offered from Germany. In addition to Mauritius, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe are part of the regular schedule on the continent.

During Northern Winter 2025/26, the German airline will have three weekly services between Frankfurt and Port Louis, although two will be made with a stopover in Victoria. Based on our database, the airline currently operates two times per week to Mauritius.

Tuesday and Sunday

• 4Y 156  Frankfurt FRA 21:55 · 10:45+1 SEZ Victoria
• 4Y 156  Victoria SEZ 11:55+1 · 14:40+1 MRU Port Louis

Monday and Wednesday

• 4Y 157  Port Louis MRU 18:10 · 20:55 SEZ Victoria
• 4Y 157  Victoria SEZ 22:05 · 05:25+1 FRA Frankfurt

Discover Airlines routes to/from Africa

Egypt

• FRA – Hurghada (HRG): 3 weekly · Airbus A320
• FRA – Marsa (RMF): 1 weekly · Airbus A320
• MUC – Hurghada (HRG): 2 weekly · Airbus A320

Kenya/Tanzania

• FRA – Mombasa (MBA) – Kilimanjaro (JRO): 1 weekly · Airbus A330-300
• FRA – Mombasa (MBA) – Zanzibar (ZNZ): 3 weekly · Airbus A330-300

Mauritius

• FRA – Port Louis (MRU): 2 weekly · Airbus A330 (currently · non-stop)

Morocco

• FRA – Marrakech (RAK): 4 weekly · Airbus A320
• MUC – Marrakech (RAK): 4 weekly · Airbus A320

Namibia

• FRA – Windhoek (WDH): 7 weekly · A332/A333

Namibia/Zimbabwe

• FRA – WDH – Victoria Falls (VFA): 1 weekly · Airbus A330-300

Damascus airport resumes operations

Syria has restarted domestic services on December 18th after Assad’s fall. The country’s main carrier, Syrian Air, covered flight RB 112 between Damascus and Aleppo with 43 passengers on board.

Based on our database, the Airbus A320-212, registration YK-AKH, departed the Syrian capital at 10:25 local time, landing in Aleppo at 11:11 local time. Two hours later it took off for Damascus.

There are two major airlines in Syria, including scheduled and charter flights. As well as Syrian Air, which provides regular operations, Cham Wings Airlines offers charter services with its five Airbus A320-200s (YK-BAA, YK-BAB, YK-BAC, YK-BAE and YK-BAG). At the time of publication, the airline’s last flights were in early December.

Kenya Airways to launch flights to London Gatwick

The airline has confirmed it will begin a new route between Kenya and United Kingdom on July 2nd, 2025, which will operate by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with a capacity for 234 passengers.

According to its press release, Kenya Airways will fly to London Gatwick, its second airport in the British capital, from Nairobi, Kenya’s capital and its hub. The flights will be performed three times weekly, which will complement the seven services per week between Nairobi and Heathrow.

Amsterdam, London and Paris are Kenya Airways’ destinations in Europe, and Bangkok, Dubai, Guangzhou, Mumbai and New York its other international routes outside Africa.

NBO – LGW

• KQ 108  Nairobi NBO 23:45 · 06:55+1 LGW London (Wednesday)
• KQ 108  Nairobi NBO 23:40 · 06:50+1 LGW London (Friday and Sunday)

LGW – NBO

• KQ 109  London LGW 12:10 · 23:05 NBO Nairobi (Monday)
• KQ 109  London LGW 11:00 · 21:55 NBO Nairobi (Thursday)
• KQ 109  London LGW 12:25 · 23:20 NBO Nairobi (Saturday)

Commenting on the new route, Kenya Airways Group Managing Director and CEO said that it is part of KQ’s route expansion strategy and offers convenience for customers. He also hinted at the potential for further expansion, stating that ‘this is just the beginning of our expansion plans for the UK market’. 

“The United Kingdom is essential and strategic for Kenya Airways and Kenya. It provides a gateway for trade, tourism, education, business, leisure travel, and diaspora connections. We are excited to add Gatwick Airport to our expansive network as it means that KQ guests now have more options in and out of the UK and a convenient schedule that suits their travel preferences.” said Mr. Kilavuka.

We review other highlights of the Africa and Middle East market

Air Algérie

The airline will add two new routes in 2025, one within Africa and the other to Europe.

Abuja and London Stansted will enter Air Algérie’s regular schedule, in both cases from/to Algiers, the country’s capital. Operations will be conducted with Boeing 737-600 in the case of Abuja, and London by Airbus A330-200 and Boeing 737-800.

Abuja · March 30th, 2025

Tentative schedule

Sunday

• AH 5348  Algiers ALG 19:30 · 23:55 ABV Abuja
• AH 5348  Abuja ABV 00:55+1 · 02:15+1 DLA Douala

Friday

• AH 5349  Douala DLA 01:35 · 02:55 ABV Abuja
• AH 5349  Abuja ABV 03:55 · 08:20 ALG Algiers

London · April 2nd, 2025

Wednesday and Thursday

• AH 2056  Algiers ALG 10:20 · 13:30 STN London
• AH 2057  London STN 15:00 · 17:55 ALG Algiers

Air Arabia

Air Arabia inaugurates two new destinations to/from Ra’sal-Khaymah, United Arab Emirates.

The services will be carried out on Airbus A320 aircraft with the following schedule:

• Moscow (DME): 3 weekly · December 27th
• Tashkent (TAS): 1 weekly · December 27th

In addition, Air Arabia Egypt will launch a new route between Egypt and Saudi Arabia starting February 21st, 2025, with the Alexandria – Taif service. The airline will offer a weekly flight using A320s.

Thursday

• E5 535  Alexandria HBE 15:30 · 18:50 TIF Taif
• E5 536  Taif TIF 19:30 · 21:10 HBE Alexandria

Air Cairo

New route to Kazakhstan.

The Egyptian carrier will commence services between Hurghada and Almatý from March 31st, 2025. According to its website, Air Cairo will fly two times a week with 180-seat Airbus A320-200s.

HRG – ALA

• SM 893  Hurghada HRG 02:00 · 09:50 ALA Almatý (Monday)
• SM 893  Hurghada HRG 23:15 · 07:05+1 ALA Almatý (Tuesday)

ALA – HRG

• SM 894  Almatý ALA 10:50 · 15:20 HRG Hurghada (Monday)
• SM 894  Almatý ALA 08:05 · 12:35 HRG Hurghada (Wednesday)

Air France

More seats offered to Cape Town.

Air France will begin flying from Paris on Airbus A350-900 aircraft configured for 324 passengers effective April 1st, 2025, replacing the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which feature 48 fewer seats.

Tuesday, Friday and Sunday

• AF 882  Paris CDG 10:10 · 21:30 CPT Cape Town
• AF 871  Cape Town CPT 23:35 · 11:00+1 CDG Paris

Air Seychelles

As of May 23rd, 2025, the company will resume operations between Victoria (Seychelles) and Abu Dhabi, to be performed with 168-seat Airbus A320neo planes.

Daily except Thursday/Friday

• HM 18  Victoria SEZ 20:45 · 01:20+1 AUH Abu Dhabi (daily except Thu)
• HM 19  Abu Dhabi AUH 08:00 · 12:35 SEZ Victoria (daily except Fri)

Abu Dhabi will become Air Seychelles’ first destination in the Middle East. In accordance with our database, India, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles, South Africa and Sri Lanka are part of its network.

AJet

The Turkish airline will initiate a new service to Algeria, with the Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen – Algiers route starting January 6th, 2025. As per its website, the flights will be conducted on Airbus A321-200s, Boeing 737-800s and Boeing 737 MAX 8s.

SAW – ALG

• VF 273  Istanbul SAW 13:50 · 15:30 ALG Algiers (Mon/Fri)
• VF 273  Istanbul SAW 12:20 · 14:00 ALG Algiers (Wednesday)
• VF 273  Istanbul SAW 13:40 · 15:20 ALG Algiers (Saturday)
• VF 273  Istanbul SAW 13:20 · 15:00 ALG Algiers (Sunday)

ALG – SAW

• VF 274  Algiers ALG 17:05 · 22:30 SAW Istanbul (Monday)
• VF 274  Algiers ALG 15:35 · 21:00 SAW Istanbul (Wednesday)
• VF 274  Algiers ALG 16:35 · 22:00 SAW Istanbul (Friday)
• VF 274  Algiers ALG 17:20 · 22:45 SAW Istanbul (Saturday)
• VF 274  Algiers ALG 17:25 · 22:50 SAW Istanbul (Sunday)

Corendon Airlines

Corendon launched three new routes between Europe and Hurghada in December, which it will provide using 189-seat, single-class Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

• Bratislava (BTS): 1 weekly · December 20th
• České Budějovice (JCL): 1 weekly · December 22nd
• Cluj (CLJ): 1 weekly · December 23rd

Emirates

The airline will start a third daily frequency to Singapore with Airbus A380-800s on December 1st, 2025.

Emirates will operate 28 weekly flights from Dubai, of which 21 will be on A380-800s. The remaining service will be performed by Boeing 777-300(ER) aircraft.

DXB – SIN

• EK 348  Dubai DXB 02:30 · 13:40 SIN Singapore (77W)
• EK 354  Dubai DXB 03:15 · 14:40 SIN Singapore (A388)
• EK 352  Dubai DXB 10:15 · 21:45 SIN Singapore (A388)
• EK 314  Dubai DXB 21:00 · 08:30+1 SIN Singapore (A388)

SIN – DXB

• EK 353  Singapore SIN 00:30 · 04:10 DXB Dubai (A388)
• EK 349  Singapore SIN 01:20 · 04:50 DXB Dubai (77W)
• EK 315  Singapore SIN 10:30 · 14:00 DXB Dubai (A388)
• EK 355  Singapore SIN 21:00 · 01:00+1 DXB Dubai (A388)

Etihad

At 13:40 local time on December 15th, Etihad Airways’ inaugural flight from Abu Dhabi landed in Nairobi. The carrier resumes services to Kenya after nearly five years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Etihad will provide four flights per week with Airbus A320neo, offering 790 weekly seats on each leg.

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday

• EY 767  Abu Dhabi AUH 09:05 · 13:30 NBO Nairobi
• EY 768  Nairobi NBO 18:20 · 00:20+1 AUH Abu Dhabi

The Kenyan capital becomes Etihad Airways’ fifth destination in Africa following Cairo, Casablanca, Johannesburg and Victoria (Seychelles).

flynas

On December 28th at 15:09 local time, flynas’ inaugural flight to Red Sea departed Dammam. The Saudi airline will operate Airbus A320neo aircraft configured for 174 passengers.

Red Sea International Airport is a new destination for flynas in Saudi Arabia, bringing its total number of connections in the country to 15. With respect to the Middle East market, it surpasses 20 scheduled destinations.

Thursday and Saturday

• XY 898  Dammam DMM 15:05 · 17:45 RSI Red Sea
• XY 899  Red Sea RSI 18:35 · 20:35 DMM Dammam

Abha, Al Najaf, Al Ula, Al-Qassim, Amman, Cairo, Dubai, Ha’il, Jeddah, Jizan, Lahore, Lucknow, Medina, Mumbai, Najran, Red Sea, Riyadh, Tabuk, Taif and Yanbu are flynas’ routes from DMM.

FlySafair

George, FlySafair’s new service from/to Johannesburg Lanseria.

The South African airline will begin operating effective March 14th, 2025 with 189-seat Boeing 737-800s, once daily. FlySafair will reach three regular routes from HLA:

Daily

• FA 356  Johannesburg HLA 10:10 · 12:20 GRJ George
• FA 357  George GRJ 12:55 · 14:55 HLA Johannesburg

Cape Town and Durban are its other current destinations, with FlySafair being the only company with scheduled operations at Lanseria Airport in Johannesburg.

IndiGo

The Indian low cost carrier’s first flight from Kozhikode touched down in Abu Dhabi at 04:07 local time on December 21st. IndiGo will operate one daily frequency by Airbus A320neo planes, with a capacity of 180 passengers in single class.

Kozhikode becomes IndiGo’s thirteenth destination from the Emirati city.

Daily

• 6E 1441  Kozhikode CCJ 01:55 · 04:35 AUH Abu Dhabi
• 6E 1442  Abu Dhabi AUH 05:35 · 10:50 CCJ Kozhikode

Based on our database, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kannur, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mangalore and Mumbai are the airline’s routes to/from AUH.

Kenya Airways

Kenya Airways will introduce the Airbus A330-300 between Nairobi and Dubai.

From January 16th, 2025, the airline will commence operations to DXB with this aircraft, leased from Hi Fly via wet-lease. The A333 will replace Kenya’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on this route.

NBO – DXB

• KQ 310  Nairobi NBO 18:15 · 00:30+1 DXB Dubai (daily)
• KQ 304  Nairobi NBO 23:20 · 05:45+1 DXB Dubai (Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun)

DXB – NBO

• KQ 311  Dubai DXB 02:00 · 06:05 NBO Nairobi (daily)
• KQ 305  Dubai DXB 06:55 · 11:10 NBO Nairobi (Mon/Tue/Thu/Sat)

Flight KQ 304/305 is served with Boeing 737-800.

Kuwait Airways

The carrier confirmed the schedule which it will operate with its new Airbus A330-900neo starting in 2025. At the time of publication, these are the dates of the first flight to each destination:

Schedule

• Milan (MXP): February 1st, 2025
• Paris (CDG): February 3rd, 2025
• Rome (FCO): February 6th, 2025
• Dubai (DXB): February 7th, 2025
• Jeddah (JED): February 13th, 2025
• Barcelona (BCN): February 19th, 2025
• Amsterdam (AMS): February 21st, 2025
• Geneva (GVA): February 24th, 2025
• Amman (AMM): March 7th, 2025
• Riyadh (RUH): March 13th, 2025
• Manchester (MAN): March 24th, 2025
• Beirut (BEY): April 6th, 2025
• Cairo (CAI): April 6th, 2025
• Casablanca (CMN): April 8th, 2025
• Istanbul (IST): April 10th, 2025
• Istanbul (SAW): April 14th, 2025
• Frankfurt (FRA): June 1st, 2025
• Mumbai (BOM): June 14th, 2025
• Cochin (COK): June 15th, 2025
• Munich (MUC): July 3rd, 2025
• Salalah (SLL): September 19th, 2025
• Delhi (DEL): September 20th, 2025

Kuwait Airways added its first Airbus A330-900neo on December 9th.

The aircraft, registration 9K-APJ, arrived at 08:44 local time in Kuwait City from Toulouse, new from the factory. It is the first A330-900neo of seven to be delivered.

As well as the Airbus A330-900neo, Kuwait Airways has four Airbus A330-800neo jets in its fleet (9K-APK, 9K-APG, 9K-APH and 9K-API), which average three years of age.

Qatar

Qatar Airways continues to expand its operations in the Netherlands, increasing from 14 to 18 weekly flights on its route from Doha. The airline will launch a third frequency on January 3rd, 2025.

According to our database, Qatar operates Airbus A350-900, Boeing 777-300(ER) and Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner airplanes.

DOH – AMS

• QR 275  Doha DOH 06:10 · 11:15 AMS Amsterdam (Mon/Fri/Sun)
• QR 275  Doha DOH 08:05 · 13:10 AMS Amsterdam (Tue/Wed/Thu/Sat)
• QR 273  Doha DOH 08:15 · 13:20 AMS Amsterdam (Daily)
• QR 283  Doha DOH 15:40 · 20:45 AMS Amsterdam (Mon/Tue/Fri/Sun)

AMS – DOH

• QR 276  Amsterdam AMS 12:50 · 21:00 DOH Doha (Mon/Fri/Sun)
• QR 276  Amsterdam AMS 15:35 · 23:45 DOH Doha (Tue/Wed/Thu/Sat)
• QR 274  Amsterdam AMS 15:05 · 23:15 DOH Doha (Daily)
• QR 284  Amsterdam AMS 22:20 · 06:30+1 DOH Doha (Mon/Tue/Fri/Sun)

Flight QR 283/284 will run until late March 2025.

Ryanair

The low cost carrier will add two new routes to Morocco by the end of March 2025, both from France.

• Lille (LIL) – Fez (FEZ): 2 weekly · March 30th, 2025
• Beauvais (BVA) – Essaouira (ESU): 2 weekly · March 31st, 2025

Saudia

Effective January 1st, 2025, Saudi International Airlines will boost from five to six services a week on the Jeddah – London Gatwick route. At the moment, as per its website, the increase will be for a limited schedule.

JED – LGW

• SV 3219  Jeddah JED 15:35 · 19:20 LGW London (Monday)
• SV 101  Jeddah JED 08:10 · 12:00 LGW London (Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun)
• SV 3219  Jeddah JED 17:40 · 21:25 LGW London (Wednesday)

LGW – JED

• SV 3220  London LGW 20:55 · 06:00+1 JED Jeddah (Monday)
• SV 100  London LGW 14:00 · 22:50 JED Jeddah (Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun)
• SV 3220  London LGW 23:05 · 08:50+1 JED Jeddah (Wednesday)

Until mid-January 2025.

TAAG

Angola’s state-owned airline started in November its flights from Luanda Dr. Agostinho Neto Airport, with IATA code NBJ and ICAO code FNBJ, the new airport in the country’s capital.

On November 10th at 08:34 local time, the Boeing 737-7M2 registered D2-TBJ departed Luanda (NBJ), being the first scheduled passenger flight from the new airport. The plane covered flight DT 120 to Cabinda, where it landed at 09:17 local time after a 43-minute flight.

Dundo, Luena, Saurimo and Soyo were later added by TAAG from NBJ, all of which are domestic routes in Angola.

At publication time, TAAG Linhas Aéreas de Angola is the only company with services in NBJ.

• Cabinda (CAB): 28 weekly · Boeing 737-700 and Dash 8
• Dundo (DUE): 5 weekly · Dash 8
• Luena (LUO): 3 weekly · Dash 8
• Saurimo (VHC): 7 weekly · Dash 8
• Soyo (SZA): 5 weekly · Dash 8

All other airlines with flights to/from Luanda operate at Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport (LAD/FNLU).

New aircraft incorporated by airlines from Africa and the Middle East

• airHaifa

• Kuwait Airways

• Royal Air Maroc (x2)

• Saudi Arabian Airlines

*It’s not new from the factory.

Other reports we have published

• United States and Canada
• Latin America
• Europe
• Asia and Oceania

Cover photo: Daniel Klein – JetPhotos (Frankfurt Rhein-Main Int’l Airport – EDDF – Germany)