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:

United States and Canada – January 2024.
Latin America – January 2024.
Europe – January 2024.
Asia and Oceania – January 2024.

 

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

G9 684  Sharjah SHJ 09:00 · 13:05 ATH Athens
G9 685  Athens ATH 13:55 · 19:50 SHJ Sharjah

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

G9 730  Sharjah SHJ 09:00 · 13:05 KRK Krakow
G9 731  Krakow KRK 13:55 · 21:35 SHJ Sharjah

 

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

AF 670  Paris CDG 23:30 · 08:25+1 JIB Djibouti

 

Thursday

AF 669  Djibouti JIB 23:55 · 05:45+1 CDG Paris

 

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)

EK 723  Dubai DXB 09:25 · 12:40 ADD Addis Ababa
EK 724  Addis Ababa ADD 15:05 · 20:15 DXB Dubai

 

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

EY 767  Abu Dhabi AUH 09:05 · 13:15 NBO Nairobi
EY 768  Nairobi NBO 18:10 · 00:20+1 AUH Abu Dhabi

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

EQ 001  Luanda LAD 18:55 · 20:00 TMS São Tomé
EQ 002  São Tomé TMS 20:50 · 23:55 LAD Luanda

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

FZ 1289  Dubai DXB 16:00 · 20:25 MBA Mombasa
FZ 1290  Mombasa MBM 21:25 · 03:55+1 DXB Dubai

 

Wednesday and Sunday

FZ 1289  Dubai DXB 09:20 · 13:55 MBM Mombasa
FZ 1290  Mombasa MBM 14:55 · 21:30 DXB Dubai

 

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

GF 191  Bahrain BAH 10:40 · 13:00 ULH Al Ula
GF 192  Al Ula ULH 13:45 · 15:35 BAH Bahrain

 

Saturday

GF 191  Bahrain BAH 15:10 · 17:30 ULH Al Ula
GF 192  Al Ula ULH 18:15 · 20:05 BAH Bahrain

 

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

KQ 460  Nairobi NBO 07:35 · 08:15 BJM Bujumbura
KQ 461  Bujumbura BJM 09:15 · 11:55 NBO Nairobi

 

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday

KQ 464  Nairobi NBO 13:00 · 13:40 BJM Bujumbura
KQ 465  Bujumbura BJM 14:40 · 17:20 NBO Nairobi

 

New flight

Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

KQ 468  Nairobi NBO 23:30 · 00:10+1 BJM Bujumbura

 

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

KQ 469  Bujumbura BJM 02:30 · 05:10 NBO Nairobi

 

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

KU 177  Kuwait City KWI 09:55 · 15:05 VIE Vienna
KU 178  Vienna VIE 16:05 · 21:05 KWI Kuwait City

 

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

QR 1489  Doha DOH 09:00 · 15:05 LAD Luanda

 

Friday

QR 1490  Luanda LAD 12:35 · 22:50 DOH Doha

 

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

RJ 712  Amman AMM 05:30 · 07:10 ULH Al Ula
RJ 713  Al Ula ULH 08:10 · 09:50 AMM Amman

 

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

SV 253  Jeddah JED 08:10 · 12:40 BHX Birmingham
SV 254  Birmingham BHX 14:30 · 22:45 JED Jeddah

 

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

SA 280  Johannesburg JNB 20:55 · 12:20+1 PER Perth

 

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

SA 281  Perth PER 14:40 · 19:35 JNB Johannesburg

 

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

2W 6843  Madrid MAD 21:00 · 07:30+1 ZNZ Zanzibar

 

Friday

2W 6844  Zanzibar ZNZ 09:30 · 17:55 MAD Madrid

 

 

 

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

The post Africa and Middle East route updates – January 2024 appeared first on Flightradar24 Blog.