South African Airways will inaugurate its regular flights between Johannesburg and Perth on April 28th. The airline will operate this route three times a week with Airbus A340-300 aircraft, configured for 253 passengers.
Perth will become SAA’s second destination out of Africa, and the third intercontinental route. In addition to the Australian city, South African offers flights to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
As the company reports in a press release, South African Airways’ operations between Johannesburg and Perth will return after a four-year suspension.
Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday
Monday, Wednesday and Friday
Emirates’ first Airbus A350-900 was recently spotted at Toulouse airport. The airline has an order for 65 A350s, with the first scheduled to enter service in August.
The registration of this aircraft will be A6-EXA.
Currently, the company’s fleet consists of Airbus A380-800, Boeing 777(F), Boeing 777-200(LR) and Boeing 777-300(ER). To read more about Emirates’ development in Dubai, its main hub, click here.
Always in the quest to try new things and offer images that are a little different!
Have you noticed the little novelty in this photo? 😏😍#avgeek #airbus #planespotting pic.twitter.com/N2OkmszGme— Robin HARDY (@robin_hrdy) March 27, 2024
Following the incident involving its only McDonnell Douglas MD-82 in Lagos on April 23rd, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority announced the suspension of Dana Air’s Air Operator Certificate (AOC) for a safety and economic audit.
The suspension took effect on Wednesday, April 24th at 23:59 local time.
Dana Air has 7 airplanes in its fleet (2 Boeing 737-500, 1 MD-82 and 4 MD-83).
We review other new developments in the Africa/Middle East market in April:
- Air Cairo adds another Airbus A320.
- Air Côte d’Ivoire takes delivery of its third Airbus A319-100.
- Brussels Airlines increases flights to Sierra Leone and Liberia.
- Camair-Co announces three new routes.
- Emirates resumed operations between Dubai and Riyadh with Airbus A380s.
- flydubai adds connections to Saudi Arabia.
- Norse Atlantic UK will fly between London and Cape Town.
- Oman Air increases frequencies on the Muscat – Lucknow route.
- Saudia will operate between Jeddah and Abuja.
- Transavia will open its second route from/to Dubai.
- Warsaw, Ethiopian Airlines’ new scheduled service.
The airline will incorporate in the short term a “new” Airbus A320-200.
According to Skyliner-Aviation, the aircraft, ex Alaska Airlines, is currently in Miami Opa Locka undergoing final preparations prior to its incorporation to Air Cairo.
This Airbus A320 will soon receive the registration SU-BVQ, as it has the N641VA registry, which it used while operating for Alaska.
Air Cairo will reach 11 Airbus A320-200s in its fleet (SU-BPU, SU-BPV, SU-BPW, SU-BPX, SU-BPT, SU-BUJ, SU-BUU, SU-BUV, SU-BUW, SU-BVP and SU-BVQ).
In addition, the company has 14 A320neo, which average 2 years old.
TU-TRF, the registration of Air Côte d’Ivoire’s new Airbus A319.
The plane is 8 years old and will shortly begin services. At present, the A319 is in Johannesburg after arriving from Marana via San Juan (Puerto Rico), Dakar and Pointe Noire.
Air Côte d’Ivoire fleet
Airbus A319
- TU-TRF · 8 years
- TU-TSY · 16 years
- TU-TSZ · 16 years
Airbus A320
- TU-TSV · 7 years
- TU-TSW · 7 years
- TU-TSX · 3.5 years
Dash 8
- TU-TSI · 8.5 years
- TU-TSK · 10 years
- TU-TSL · 9.5 years
- TU-TSQ · 8 years
Between 2016 and 2023, the Airbus A319 TU-TRF operated for Avianca with the registry N751AV.
Last April 15th, Airlink’s Embraer 195AR, registration ZS-YDF, entered service.
This airplane had been incorporated by the African company in November 2023, after being inactive for almost four years after its withdrawal from Saratov Airlines, a Russian carrier.
Airlink has six Embraer 195s, five of which are active. The one registered as ZS-YDG has been grounded at Johannesburg airport since October 2023.
The airline will add frequencies on the Brussels – Freetown (Sierra Leone) – Monrovia (Liberia) – Brussels route as of August 20th.
As can be seen on its website, Brussels Airlines will expand from three to four flights per week.
Tuesday, Friday and Sunday
It will add a service on Mondays.
The four weekly will be until September 3rd, returning to the current schedule. In late October, it will increase again to 4.
Brussels Airlines routes to/from Africa
Angola/Democratic Republic of the Congo
Benin/Ivory Coast
Burkina Faso/Ivory Coast
Burundi/Uganda
Cameroon
Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Kinshasa (FIH): 5 weekly · Airbus A330-300
Gambia
- Banjul (BJL) via DSS: 4 weekly · Airbus A330-300
Ghana
- Accra (ACC): 4 weekly · Airbus A330-300
Guinea
- Conakry (CKY) via DSS: 3 weekly · Airbus A330-300
Ivory Coast/Benin
Ivory Coast/Ghana
Rwanda/Uganda
Senegal
- Dakar (DSS): 7 weekly · Airbus A330-300
Sierra Leone/Liberia
Togo
- Lome (LFW) via ACC: 4 weekly · Airbus A330-300
During May, the Cameroonian carrier will launch three new routes from/to Douala airport, its main base.
These connections will be Brazzaville, Cotonou, Libreville and Pointe Noire, with the following schedule:
Cotonou · May 13th
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday
Libreville and Pointe Noire · May 13th
Monday, Thursday and Saturday
Brazzaville · May 28th
Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday
Flights to Brazzaville and Cotonou will be operated by Boeing 737-700s, and those to Libreville and Pointe Noire using Embraer 175s.
The airline resumed services with Airbus A380 aircraft between Dubai and Riyadh last April 1st.
From the current three daily frequencies, Emirates will operate one of them using these aircraft, while the other two will be on Boeing 777-300s.
Airbus A380-800
Boeing 777
Emirates’ routes to/from Saudi Arabia
- Dammam (DMM): 22 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
- Jeddah (JED): 21 weekly · Airbus A380
- Medina (MED): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
- Riyadh (RUH): 21 weekly · A380/77W
The last Emirates flights between Dubai and Riyadh, with Airbus A380-800s, had been in 2020.
Warsaw, Ethiopian Airlines’ new connection in Europe.
The company will begin operations in July, and will be the only one to operate from/to Addis Ababa.
In accordance with its website, Ethiopian will offer four services a week on Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft under this schedule:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
Athens, Brussels, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Geneva, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Manchester, Marseille, Milan, Oslo, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna and Zurich are Ethiopian Airlines’ current connections in the European continent.
Effective June 25th, Etihad schedules to launch flights between Abu Dhabi and Bali (Denpasar). The carrier will offer four weekly operations with the 290-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
As for other Indonesian cities, Etihad operates 11 services per week between Abu Dhabi and Jakarta on Boeing 777-300(ER) and Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner aircraft.
In addition, Etihad Airways’ first Airbus A321NX was recently spotted. The plane, which currently has the registration 2-AECC, will soon join the airline.
Between April 18th and the 22nd, flydubai inaugurated two new connections in the Dubai – Saudi Arabia market, bringing the carrier’s total number of routes to 18.
Operations will be performed on 186-seat Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets.
Red Sea Project · April 18th
Thursday and Sunday
Sakaka · April 22nd
Monday and Thursday
flydubai routes between DXB and Saudi Arabia
- Abha (AHB): 7 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
- Al Ula (ULH): 3 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
- Al-Qassim (ELQ): 7 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
- Dammam (DMM): 28 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
- Ha’il (HAS): 4 weekly · 738/7M8
- Hofuf Al-Ahsa (HOF): 3 weekly · Boeing 737-800
- Jeddah (JED): 21 weekly · 738/7M8
- Jizan (GIZ): 4 weekly · Boeing 737-800
- Medina (MED): 14 weekly · 738/7M8
- Najran (EAM): 3 weekly · 738/7M8
- Neom Bay (NUM): 3 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
- Qaisumah (AQI): 2 weekly · Boeing 737-800
- Red Sea (RSI): 2 weekly · 738/7M8
- Riyadh (RUH): 35 weekly · 738/7M8
- Sakaka (AJF): 2 weekly · 738/7M8
- Tabuk (TUU): 14 weekly · 738/7M8
- Taif (TIF): 4 weekly · 738/7M8
- Yanbu (YNB): 3 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
The Romanian-based charter airline will launch three seasonal routes to Africa starting in June.
According to its website, Fly Lili will operate with its Airbus A320-200s configured for 180 passengers.
Egypt
Tunisia
Last March 30th, the company inaugurated flights between Amman and Moscow Domodedovo. In line with our database, Jordan Aviation will have two weekly services with the 176-seat Airbus A320-200 jets.
Saturday
Furthermore, Kuwait City will enter the carrier’s regular network effective May 2nd.
Jordan Aviation will fly to/from Amman as follows:
Saturday/Wednesday
The airline announced from October 28th it will commence operations between London and Cape Town.
Norse Atlantic UK will serve this route three times a week with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, in accordance to its website.
Monday, Wednesday and Saturday
Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday
Routes between the UK and South Africa
Cape Town
- London (LHR): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-1000 (British)
Johannesburg
- London (LHR): 14 weekly · A388/77W (British)
- London (LHR): 7 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (Virgin)
Earlier this month, Norse confirmed the opening of a new destination in the United States. Services to Las Vegas will begin on September 12th, and for further information you can click on this link.
More flights to Lucknow, India.
As can be seen in our database, Oman Air increased its flights between Muscat and Lucknow in early April, reaching ten weekly.
Daily
Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
Previously, it had a daily frequency.
Air India Express and SalamAir, in addition to Oman Air, operate between the two cities, with seven and three services per week, respectively.
Beginning June 1st, Qatar Airways will inaugurate a new destination in Africa.
The company will offer four weekly flights on a combined route with Luanda (Angola) using Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft seating 254 passengers.
Monday and Saturday
Thursday and Friday
Additionally, Qatar will boost from one to four operations a week to Luanda.
Effective May 11th, Abuja, Nigeria, will join Saudia’s regular schedule.
Operations will be conducted three weekly with Boeing 777-300(ER) aircraft, under the following schedule:
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
Kano is Saudi Arabian Airlines’ only current destination in Nigeria.
The cargo airline of the Democratic Republic of the Congo confirmed the addition of its second Boeing 737-800(F). At the moment, the nearly 22-year-old aircraft has the registration N157TS.
On April 17th, as can be seen in our database, the Boeing 737 arrived in Kinshasa from Dothan (DHT) via Espargos.
We review South African’s routes from Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Cape Town
South Africa
Brazil
Johannesburg
Australia
- Perth (PER): 3 weekly · Airbus A340-300 (effective April 28th)
Brazil
Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Kinshasa (FIH): 3 weekly · Airbus A320-200
Ghana
- Accra (ACC): 3 weekly · Airbus A340-300
Ivory Coast
- Abidjan (ABJ) via ACC: 3 weekly · Airbus A340-300
Mauritius
Namibia
- Windhoek (WDH): 14 weekly · Airbus A320-200
Nigeria
- Lagos (LOS): 3 weekly · Airbus A330-300
South Africa
Zambia
- Lusaka (LUN): 7 weekly · Airbus A320-200
Zimbabwe
The company will begin operating flights between Toulouse and Dubai starting October 27th. These services, which are already on sale, will be carried out twice a week with Boeing 737-800s.
Monday and Friday
Tuesday and Saturday
Currently, from/to Toulouse-Blagnac airport, the French airline has only one route (TLS-Brest on Boeing 737-800 aircraft).
Four new airplanes just out of the factory were incorporated by different airlines from these markets during late March and April.
| Aircraft | Airline | Registration | Ferry flight | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 787-9 | Qatar | A7-BHR | CHS-DOH | March 30th |
| Boeing 777-F | Qatar Cargo | A7-BTB | PAE-DOH | April 14th |
| Airbus A321-251NX | Pegasus | TC-RDO | TLS-SAW | April 24th |
| Airbus A321-251NX | Saudia | HZ-ASAH | XFW-JED | April 25th |
To read the other reports we published during April:
Cover photo: Mirko Bleuer – JetPhotos (Cape Town, South Africa).
