Emirates announced its first regular destinations for its new Airbus A350-900s. The airline’s first A350 was recently spotted in Toulouse and is scheduled to enter service in September.

At the time of publication, Emirates plans to have 10 Airbus A350s in its fleet by the end of March 2025, which will feature a 312-passenger configuration with three classes (32 Business, 21 Premium Economy and 259 Economy).

Adnan Kazim, Emirates Airline’s Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, said: “The A350 will be a game-changer for Emirates, enabling us to serve regional points with superior operational efficiency and flexibility in the Middle East, Asia and Europe. With the latest generation of cabin products, including our coveted Premium Economy to more cities, world-class in-flight entertainment technologies and multiple customer-friendly services, Emirates’ A350 reflects our long-term commitment to investing in the best customer experience in the sky. Flying the A350 to nine cities in such a short space of time adds more premium cabin options and more geographic variety for our customers, while securing our competitive advantage and industry leadership position.”

Ibom Air will soon add another Airbus A220-300 to its fleet, which is currently in Maastricht, Netherlands.

This aircraft, to be registered soon as 5N-CDB, will be the Nigerian airline’s second A220. The first, with registration 5N-CDA, arrived at Uyo (QUO) in December 2023, entering service last March 1st.

During the Dubai Airshow 2021, Ibom Air placed an order for 10 new Airbus A220-300s. The addition of the A220 5N-CDA was the first of the 10 announced. Another two new ones will be delivered in 2024, while the rest in 2025 and 2026.

As well as the A220, the company has 5 CRJ-900s in its fleet.

These are other highlights of the Africa and Middle East market in May:

• Air Arabia Maroc launched a new route between Morocco and Spain.

• Binani Air took delivery of its third Embraer 170.

• Binter Canarias announced its fifth connection to Morocco.

• Ethiopian expands its domestic network.

• Etihad schedules to resume operations between Abu Dhabi and Paris on Airbus A380s.

• FlyJinnah plans to fly to Bahrain.

• flynas will inaugurate five routes in the Saudi Arabia-United Arab Emirates market.

• Kam Air will operate between Kabul and Dubai via Khost.

• Lufthansa and its operational adjustments to South Africa.

• Norwegian announces a major expansion in Africa and the Middle East.

• Nouvelair started flights between Monastir and Nuremberg.

• Oman Air adds frequencies to Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar.

• Qatar Cargo incorporated its 28th Boeing 777(F).

• Royal Jordanian scheduled to start services to Paphos, and the addition of a new Embraer E-2.

• South African Airways acquired another Airbus A320.

• Zambia Airways will begin flying between Lusaka, Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi.

Air Arabia Maroc

The Moroccan company inaugurated its operations between Tetuan and Bilbao, which will be carried out once a week with 186-seat Airbus A320-200 aircraft.

Saturday

• 3O 837  Tetuan TTU 06:00 · 08:40 BIO Bilbao (first flight May 25th)
• 3O 838  Bilbao BIO 09:30 · 10:10 TTU Tetuan (first flight May 18th)

Current Air Arabia Maroc routes from Tetuan

Belgium

• Brussels (BRU): 2 weekly · Airbus A320

Netherlands

• Amsterdam (AMS): 2 weekly · Airbus A320

Spain

• Barcelona (BCN): 3 weekly · Airbus A320
• Bilbao (BIO): 1 weekly · Airbus A320
• Madrid (MAD): 3 weekly · Airbus A320
• Málaga (AGP): 2 weekly · Airbus A320

In addition to Tetuan, the airline offers international services from Casablanca, Fes, Nador, Oujda, Rabat and Tangier.

Air Cairo

Effective June 3rd, Air Cairo is set to resume flights between Cairo and Ouagadougou after a month and a half of suspension. According to our database, services will be carried out on Airbus A320s.

Saturday

• SM 733  Cairo CAI 20:00 · 22:35 OUA Ouagadougou
• SM 734  Ouagadougou OUA 23:40 · 08:00 CAI Cairo

The carrier will be the only one operating in the Egypt – Burkina Faso market.

Air Nostrum

During summer season, the Spanish airline will have charter services between Switzerland and Morocco.

The first flight, on the Geneva – Tetuan leg, is scheduled for June 29th and the last one, in the reverse direction, will be on August 3rd.

Air Nostrum will use its CRJ-200 aircraft with 50 seats.

Air Sénégal

In November 2022, Air Sénégal’s Airbus A220-300, registration 6V-AOA, was withdrawn from service due to technical problems with the aircraft’s Pratt & Whitney 1500G engines. It departed Dakar in March 2023 to Weeze (NRN) for preservation.

Following a year inactive in Weeze, it made a ferry flight to Maastricht for the painting process, as it is about to join Ibom Air.

The aircraft is 4 years old and maintains the seating configuration used with Air Sénégal (8 Business and 125 Economy).

At the time of publication, this is the fleet of the Senegalese airline:

• ATR 72: 2
• Airbus A319-100: 2
• Airbus A321-200: 2
• Airbus A330-900: 2

Binani Air

The Nigerian carrier added its third Embraer 170 (5N-CCJ).

On May 22nd, the aircraft arrived in Cairo from Tunisia, after its withdrawal from Jasmin Airways, a Tunisian airline.

Binani Air’s current fleet

• 5N-CCI
• 5N-CCJ (ex Jasmin Airways)
• 5N-CDP (ex Jasmin Airways)

The E170 5N-CCJ will soon enter service.

Binter

As of July 6th, Binter Canarias will fly between Gran Canaria and Ouarzazate.

The Moroccan city will be served by the Spanish company until mid-August, with ATR 72-600 planes.

Saturday

• NT 2104  Gran Canaria LPA 14:00 · 16:15 OZZ Ouarzazate
• NT 2105  Ouarzazate OZZ 17:00 · 19:10 LPA Gran Canaria

Binter routes in Africa

Cape Verde

• Espargos (SID): 1 weekly · Embraer E-2

Mauritania

• Nouakchott (NKC): 3 weekly · Embraer E-2

Morocco

• Agadir (AGA): 1 weekly · ATR 72
• Dakhla (VIL): 2 weekly · ATR 72
• El Aaiun (EUN): 2 weekly · ATR 72
• Guelmim (GLN): 1 weekly · ATR 72
• Marrakesh (RAK): 2 weekly · ATR 72

Senegal

• Dakar (DSS): 2 weekly · Embraer E-2

EgyptAir

The airline incorporated another Boeing 737-800 to its fleet in late April (SU-GGA).

Following a year and a half on ground after its withdrawal from Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet, the aircraft made the Amman-Cairo delivery flight on April 23rd, entering service in early May.

EgyptAir’s fleet

• Airbus A220-300: 3
• Airbus A320neo: 8
• Airbus A321neo: 7
• Airbus A330-200: 7
• Airbus A330-300: 4
• Boeing 737-800: 30
• Boeing 777-300(ER): 6
• Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner: 7

Not all are active.

Emirates

These will be the routes for its Airbus A350-900s effective September 15th:

• Bahrain (BAH): 7 weekly · September 15th
• Kuwait City (KWI): 7 weekly · September 16th
• Ahmedabad (AMD): 7 weekly · October 27th
• Mumbai (BOM): 7 weekly · October 27th
• Bahrain (BAH): increase from 7 to 14 with A350 · November 1st
• Edinburgh (EDI): Emirates new route · November 4th
• Bologna (BLQ): 7 weekly · December 1st
• Lyon (LYS): 7 weekly · December 1st
• Muscat (MCT): 7 weekly · December 1st
• Colombo (CMB): 7 weekly · January 1st, 2025

Emirates will return to Edinburgh after a four-year suspension. Operations will be conducted under the following schedule:

Daily

• EK 023  Dubai DXB 14:50 · 19:05 EDI Edinburgh
• EK 024  Edinburgh EDI 20:40 · 08:05+1 DXB Dubai

The airline will have new developments in the Asian market over the next few months. For more information, you can read this report.

Ethiopian

In June, the company will add two new domestic connections in Ethiopia.

The operations will be performed from/to Addis Ababa, Ethiopian’s hub, using Dash 8 airplanes configured for 71 passengers.

Axum · June 8th

Daily

• ET 128  Addis Ababa ADD 13:20 · 14:50 AXU Axum
• ET 129  Axum AXU 15:20 · 16:50 ADD Addis Ababa

Nekemte · June 17th

Monday, Wednesday and Saturday

• ET 255  Addis Ababa ADD 09:30 · 10:35 NEK Nekemte
• ET 254  Nekemte NEK 11:05 · 12:10 ADD Addis Ababa

Ethiopian Airlines has 31 Dash 8s in its fleet, of which 30 are active at the time of publication.

Etihad

Etihad Airways plans to add more routes to/from Abu Dhabi with its Airbus A380s.

Beginning November 1st, the airline is scheduled to resume services to Paris Charles de Gaulle with these aircraft. Etihad currently offers a daily frequency on Airbus A350-1000 jets.

Daily

• EY 31  Abu Dhabi AUH 02:25 · 07:45 CDG Paris
• EY 32  Paris CDG 10:20 · 19:00 AUH Abu Dhabi

London (LHR) and New York (JFK) are Etihad Airways’ current A380 destinations, with 13 and 7 weekly flights respectively.

FlyJinnah

On June 13th, the Pakistani carrier intends to inaugurate operations to Bahrain from Islamabad, its main hub.

In accordance to its website, FlyJinnah will fly twice per week with Airbus A320-200 planes.

Tuesday and Thursday

• 9P 764  Islamabad ISB 19:05 · 20:55 BAH Bahrain
• 9P 765  Bahrain BAH 21:45 · 03:20+1 ISB Islamabad

FlyJinnah’s routes in the Middle East

Muscat

• Islamabad (ISB): 3 weekly · Airbus A320

Sharjah

• Islamabad (ISB): 14 weekly · Airbus A320
• Lahore (LHE): 14 weekly · Airbus A320

flynas

The Saudi company expects to launch five new routes to the United Arab Emirates starting in September:

• Jeddah (JED) – Abu Dhabi (AUH): 7 weekly · September 1st
• Jeddah (JED) – Sharjah (SHJ): 7 weekly · September 1st
• Medina (MED) – Sharjah (SHJ): 2 weekly · September 1st
• Riyadh (RUH) – Dubai (DWC): 7 weekly · September 1st
• Medina (MED) – Abu Dhabi (AUH): 2 weekly · September 2nd

flynas will operate on Airbus A320neo jets with a capacity of 174 passengers in single class.

Kam Air

Beginning June 2nd, Kam Air will commence services to Dubai from Kabul. These operations will be on Boeing 737-300s, with a stopover in Khost in both directions.

Thursday and Sunday

• RQ 965  Kabul KBL 07:00 · 07:45 KHT Khost
• RQ 965  Khost KHT 08:45 · 11:35 DXB Dubai

• RQ 966  Dubai DXB 13:05 · 16:25 KHT Khost
• RQ 966  Khost KHT 17:25 · 18:25 KBL Kabul

Kam Air has 12 planes in its fleet (5 Airbus A340-300, 6 Boeing 737-300 and 1 Boeing 737-500).

Lufthansa

The airline plans to modify its operations between Germany and South Africa from late October.

Lufthansa currently serves Cape Town and Johannesburg from Frankfurt with Airbus A340-300 and Boeing 747-8i aircraft respectively.

Cape Town

• Frankfurt (FRA): reduce from 7 to 6 · eff October 26th
• Munich (MUC): increase from 5 to 7 · eff October 27th*

*Munich – Cape Town operates during European winter season.

On September 2nd, Lufthansa will inaugurate its flights between Munich and Johannesburg, which will run as follows:

Monday, Thursday and Saturday

• LH 578  Munich MUC 20:05 · 06:30+1 JNB Johannesburg

Tuesday, Friday and Sunday

• LH 579  Johannesburg JNB 08:20 · 18:50 MUC Munich

Norwegian

In Q4 2024, the company is scheduled to commence several routes to Africa and the Middle East.

These flights will be carried out using Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes.

Egypt

• Stockholm (ARN) – Hurghada (HRG): 1 weekly · October 30th
• Gothenburg (GOT) – Hurghada (HRG): 1 weekly · October 31st
• Helsinki (HEL) – Hurghada (HRG): 1 weekly · November 1st
• Oslo (OSL) – Hurghada (HRG): 1 weekly · November 2nd
• Copenhagen (CPH) – Giza (SPX): 2 weekly · November 3rd
• Copenhagen (CPH) – Hurghada (HRG): 1 weekly · November 7th

Morocco

• Helsinki (HEL) – Agadir (AGA): 1 weekly · October 29th
• Oslo (OSL) – Agadir (AGA): 1 weekly · October 30th
• Stockholm (ARN) – Agadir (AGA): 1 weekly · November 1st
• Copenhagen (CPH) – Agadir (AGA): 3 weekly · November 2nd
• Gothenburg (GOT) – Marrakesh (RAK): 1 weekly · November 2nd
• Helsinki (HEL) – Marrakesh (RAK): 2 weekly · December 21st

United Arab Emirates

• Copenhagen (CPH) – Dubai (DWC): 3 weekly · December 12th
• Stockholm (ARN) – Dubai (DWC): 2 weekly · December 13th
• Oslo (OSL) – Dubai (DWC): 2 weekly · December 15th

Nouvelair

At 10:17 local time on May 23rd, the carrier’s first flight from Nuremberg arrived in Monastir. Services will be operated once a week on Airbus A320-200s with a capacity of 186 passengers.

Saturday

• BJ 2824  Monastir MIR 05:00 · 08:25 NUE Nuremberg
• BJ 2825  Nuremberg NUE 09:25 · 10:50 MIR Monastir

Nouvelair current routes from/to Monastir

Austria

• Vienna (VIE): 1 weekly · Airbus A320

Belgium

• Brussels (BRU): 1 weekly · Airbus A320

Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Sarajevo (SJJ): 1 weekly · Airbus A320

France

• Lille (LIL): 1 weekly · Airbus A320
• Lyon (LYS): 1 weekly · Airbus A320
• Nice (NCE): 3 weekly · Airbus A320
• Paris (CDG): 7 weekly · Airbus A320

Germany

• Berlin (BER): 2 weekly · Airbus A320
• Düsseldorf (DUS): 5 weekly · Airbus A320
• Frankfurt (FRA): 2 weekly · Airbus A320
• Hannover (HAJ): 2 weekly · Airbus A320
• Leipzig (LEJ): 1 weekly · Airbus A320
• Munich (MUC): 2 weekly · Airbus A320
• Nuremberg (NUE): 1 weekly · Airbus A320
• Stuttgart (STR): 1 weekly · Airbus A320

Poland

• Gdansk (GDN): 1 weekly · Airbus A320
• Katowice (KTW): 2 weekly · Airbus A320
• Poznań (POZ): 1 weekly · Airbus A320
• Warsaw (WAW): 3 weekly · Airbus A320
• Wroclaw (WRO): 1 weekly · Airbus A320

Serbia

• Belgrade (BEG): 1 weekly · Airbus A320

Slovenia

• Ljubljana (LJU): 1 weekly · Airbus A320

United Kingdom

• Norwich (NWI): 1 weekly · Airbus A320

Oman Air

Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar will have more Oman Air flights.

The company currently operates three weekly services on the Muscat – Dar-es-Salaam – Zanzibar – Muscat route with Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, which it will increase to six from July 8th.

According to its website, Oman Air will perform this schedule until late August.

Daily except Friday

• WY 707  Muscat MCT 22:50 · 03:20+1 DAR Dar-es-Salaam
• WY 707  Dar-es-Salaam DAR 04:20 · 05:00 ZNZ Zanzibar (following day)
• WY 708  Zanzibar ZNZ 06:00 · 12:25 MCT Muscat (following day)

As for other destinations in Africa, Oman Air offers 12 flights per week between Muscat and Cairo on Boeing 737 MAX 8s.

Qatar Cargo

Qatar Airways’ cargo subsidiary added a new Boeing 777F from the factory during April. In accordance with our database, the aircraft departed Seattle Boeing Field on April 14th at 12:19 local time, arriving in Doha at 12:44 local time the same day, after a 14-hour, 25-minute ferry flight.

The 777, with registration A7-BTB, entered service two days later covering flight QR 8600 between Doha and Mumbai.

Qatar Cargo’s fleet consists of 28 Boeing 777Fs, with an average age of 7 years.

Renegade Air

Two new aircraft were added to the Kenyan airline’s fleet in the last month, which are currently on ground awaiting entry into service.

The first of these, the CRJ-100(ER) registered 5Y-RNJ, arrived in Kenya after a long delivery flight that lasted almost 5 days.

According to our database, the CRJ departed Calgary on May 3rd for Iqaluit, continuing on to Reykjavik, Nottingham, Heraklion and Djibouti.

On the other hand, an ATR 72-500, registration 5Y-RNF, landed in Nairobi on May 9th from Malta via Jeddah. It is the first ATR in the fleet.

Renegade Air fleet

• ATR 72-500: 1
• CRJ-100(ER): 1
• DHC-8-100: 2
• DHC-8-300: 3
• Fokker 50: 2
• Fokker 70: 1

Royal Jordanian

Paphos is expected to return to Royal Jordanian’s regular schedule effective June 13th.

At the time of publication, the airline plans to operate to/from Amman with Airbus A320 and Embraer jets, twice a week.

Thursday

• RJ 137  Amman AMM 07:35 · 08:45 PFO Paphos
• RJ 138  Paphos PFO 09:45 · 10:50 AMM Amman

Saturday/Sunday

• RJ 137  Amman AMM 22:35 · 23:45 PFO Paphos
• RJ 138  Paphos PFO 00:45 · 01:50 AMM Amman

South African Airways

The airline recently took delivery of a new Airbus A320-200.

On May 12th, the A320, still registered 2-KMOL, arrived in Johannesburg from Angeles City (Clark), Hambantota and Dar-es-Salaam. The South African registration of the aircraft, which is owned by the lessor China Aircraft Leasing Company (CALC), is unknown as of publication time.

SAA fleet

• Airbus A320-200: 6
• Airbus A330-300: 2
• Airbus A340-300: 1

South African Airways plans to add two more Airbus A320s in the short term.

Zambia Airways

Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi will enter Zambia Airways’ route network.

Based on its website, the flights will be carried out on Boeing 737-700s from late June under the following schedule:

Tuesday and Thursday

• ZN 504  Lusaka LUN 07:00 · 10:30 DAR Dar-es-Salaam
• ZN 504  Dar-es-Salaam DAR 11:15 · 12:35 NBO Nairobi
• ZN 504  Nairobi NBO 13:20 · 15:20 LUN Lusaka

Saturday

• ZN 504  Lusaka LUN 07:00 · 11:00 NBO Nairobi
• ZN 504  Nairobi NBO 11:45 · 13:05 DAR Dar-es-Salaam
• ZN 504  Dar-es-Salaam DAR 13:50 · 15:20 LUN Lusaka

Current routes from/to Lusaka

South Africa

• Johannesburg (JNB): 8 weekly · Boeing 737-700

Zambia

• Livingstone (LVI): 4 weekly · Dash 8
• Ndola (NLA): 13 weekly · Dash 8
• Solwezi (SLI): 1 weekly · Dash 8

Zambia Airways also offers a weekly frequency between Ndola and Solwezi with its Dash 8.

With respect to new aircraft, flydubai, Gulf Air and Royal Jordanian have added new jets from the factory.

Royal Jordanian reached 3 Embraer E-2s, Gulf Air 13 Airbus A321NXs and flydubai 55 Boeing 737 MAX 8s.

Other reports we have published:

• United States and Canada
• Latin America
• Europe
• Asia and Oceania
• Lufthansa sending the A380 to Washington
• Dubai deep dive: How Emirates runs its megahub
• China-Australia flights approaching pre-pandemic levels

Cover photo: Pawel Wedrychowicz – JetPhotos (Dubai, United Arab Emirates).