We have reached the end of the March world aviation report, with the Africa and Middle East post.
During the last few weeks, Morocco has been adding important new international connections that will be inaugurated later on, from countries such as the United States, Canada, Iceland and England.
This illustrates the growing interest of airlines in this market. In addition, the agreement with tourism entities in the country supports the launching of new routes, as was done between PLAY and Marrakech.
United Airlines recently opened reservations for its first route to Morocco. These services, from Newark to Marrakech, will begin in late October and will be operated on Boeing 767-300(ER) jets.
Morocco will be United’s fourth market in Africa after Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa.
In terms of new aircraft, Air Tanzania incorporated its second Boeing 737 MAX 9 just out of the factory. The plane, with registration 5H-TCQ, arrived in the country from Seattle with two stopovers, on a delivery flight of almost 3 days.
Air Tanzania has one of the most modern fleets on the continent.
We review other highlights of this market:
- Air Arabia launches a new connection to Iraq.
- AnadoluJet inaugurated services between Istanbul and Giza, Egypt.
- Cemair adds three connections to/from Johannesburg.
- China Eastern increases frequencies to Dubai.
- El Al modifies its operations between Tel Aviv and Europe.
- Ethiopian boosts flights to the Middle East.
- Etihad expands service between Abu Dhabi and Rome.
- flydubai to duplicate frequencies to Milan Bergamo.
- flynas will operate flights between Riyadh and El Dabaa, Egypt.
- Gulf Air boosts services to Manchester.
- Kenya Airways inaugurated flights between Nairobi and Eldoret, a domestic route.
- Qatar Airways adds operations to Scandinavia.
- Royal Air Maroc will begin service between Casablanca and Manchester.
- Turkish Airlines will inaugurate flights to Tripoli, Libya.
Beginning June 3rd, Air Arabia will launch services between Sharjah and Basra. The airline will offer three weekly flights to the Iraqi city with Airbus A320-200 planes.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday
Basra will be Air Arabia’s fourth destination in Iraq from/to Sharjah:
- Al Najaf (NJF): 3 weekly · Airbus A320
- Baghdad (BGW): 7 weekly · Airbus A320
- Erbil (EBL): 7 weekly · Airbus A320
The French carrier confirmed it will add via leasing Boeing 737-800s from ASL Airlines between April and September.
These aircraft will be based at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, and will cover the following routes in Africa:
Currently, according to our database, Air France offers these routes with the Airbus A320 and Airbus A321.
On March 26th, Air Tanzania took delivery of its second Boeing 737 MAX 9 (5H-TCQ). The airplane landed in Dar es-Salaam, the company’s main base in the country, from Seattle Boeing Field with stops in Puerto Rico and Senegal.
Air Tanzania owns one of the most modern fleets on the African continent, averaging 6 years of age between its 14 aircraft:
- Airbus A220-300: 4
- Boeing 737 MAX 9: 2
- Boeing 767-300(F): 1
- Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner: 2
- De Havilland Canada DHC-8-400: 5
The carrier added its first Boeing 737 MAX 9, registered as 5H-TCP, in September 2023.
At 01:39 local time on Sunday, March 3rd, AnadoluJet’s inaugural flight from Istanbul (SAW) arrived at Giza (SPX). Operations will be conducted five times a week on Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft seating 186 passengers.
Daily except Wednesday and Thursday
- TK 5572 SAW 00:30/00:40/00:50 · 01:40/01:50/01:55 SPX
- TK 5573 SPX 02:50/02:55/03:10/03:55 · 06:05/06:15/06:20/07:20 SAW
Current routes between Istanbul SAW and Egypt
Alexandria (HBE)
Cairo (CAI)
Giza (SPX)
- AnadoluJet: 5 weekly
- Pegasus: 5 weekly
Hurghada (HRG)
Sharm el-Sheikh (SSH)
East London and Mala Mala, Cemair’s new regular connections to/from Johannesburg.
Services will start between April and June, in accordance with its booking system.
East London · April 7th
Daily except Friday and Saturday
Daily except Saturday and Sunday
Mala Mala · June 1st
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday
Furthermore, the company inaugurated its services between Johannesburg and Harare last March 21st, which will have the following schedule:
Monday, Wednesday and Friday
On Sundays it will depart Johannesburg at 10:00 and 12:25 from Harare.
On April 23rd, China Eastern will increase its flight frequency between Shanghai Pudong and Dubai. As reported on its website, the carrier will boost from five to seven services per week on this route, which operates with Airbus A330-300s (flight MU 245/246).
China Eastern Airlines routes between China and the United Arab Emirates:
- Kunming (KMG): 2 weekly · Boeing 787-9
- Qingdao (TAO): 3 weekly · Airbus A330-300
- Shanghai (PVG): 5 weekly · Airbus A330-300
- Xi’an (XIY): 3 weekly · Airbus A330-200
The Tel Aviv-based carrier announced it will modify part of its schedule in Europe. El Al will have these changes between late March and early July:
France
Germany
- Berlin (BER): from 11 to 7 weekly · eff July 16th
Greece
Italy
- Milan (MXP): from 12 to 14 weekly · eff April 15th
- Rome (FCO): from 12 to 13 weekly · eff March 31st
Poland
- Warsaw (WAW): from 3 to 5 weekly · eff March 31st
Portugal
- Lisbon (LIS): from 5 to 6 weekly · eff April 2nd
Slovenia
- Ljubljana (LJU): 1 weekly · seasonal services effective July 2nd
Spain
- Barcelona (BCN): will not increase to 14 weekly (maintains 10)
Switzerland
- Zurich (ZRH): from 9 to 10 weekly · eff July 3rd
The airline confirmed the increase of its services between Ethiopia and the Middle East.
In line with the booking system, Ethiopian Airlines will add more flights to Bahrain, Dammam and Muscat from Addis Ababa, the company’s hub in the country.
These three routes are operated with Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.
Muscat · eff March 27th (from 5 to 7 weekly)
Daily
Dammam · eff April 1st (from 6 to 7 weekly)
Daily
Bahrain · eff June 2nd (from 3 to 4 weekly)
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
New flight departing from Addis Ababa on Sundays and Mondays from Bahrain.
Effective October 27th, Etihad Airways will boost its operations between Abu Dhabi and Rome Fiumicino. Currently, the carrier has 12 weekly flights, which will increase to 14.
Daily
Will increase to daily
EY 83/84 is currently carried out on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
In Italy, in addition to Rome, Etihad offers 10 services a week with the 290-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
The company will double its flights between Dubai and Milan Bergamo as of March 31st, with the introduction of the second daily frequency.
According to our database, flydubai will operate 14 weekly services on Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes.
Daily
Daily · new
flydubai routes between Dubai and Italy
- Catania (CTA): 3 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
- Milan (BGY): 14 weekly · eff March 31st
- Naples (NAP): 7 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
- Pisa (PSA): 3 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
El Dabaa, flynas’ new destination in Egypt.
The Saudi airline will have two flights per week from/to Riyadh with 174-seat Airbus A320neo aircraft, beginning July 3rd.
Wednesday and Sunday
The company will boost its operations between Bahrain and Manchester starting in July. Gulf Air currently offers four weekly services on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jets.
Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday
New flight on Fridays.
As well as Manchester, in the United Kingdom, the airline has two flights a day to/from London Heathrow:
Daily
Daily
On Monday (25) at 10:42 local time, Kenya Airways’ first regular service from Nairobi landed in Eldoret. The carrier will operate five weekly with Embraer 190s configured for 96 passengers.
As can be seen in our database, the last flight on this route was on March 29th, 2021.
Wednesday, Friday and Saturday
Starting April 3rd, it will depart Nairobi at 06:35 and 08:10 from Eldoret.
Thursday and Sunday
Routes from/to Eldoret
Fly540
Jambojet
Kenya Airways
Skyward Express
For the beginning of the high season, Nile Air will have charter flights between Hurghada and Europe.
Düsseldorf has already started with these services on March 24th, but the next additions will commence during the April-June period.
- Zurich (ZRH): 1 weekly · April 14th
- Munich (MUC): 2 weekly · May 18th
- Stuttgart (STR): 2 weekly · May 18th
- Cologne (CGN): 1 weekly · June 9th
- Hamburg (HAM): 2 weekly · June 21st
- Nuremberg (NUE): 1 weekly · June 22nd
Düsseldorf will have flights every Sunday.
As of April 1st, the carrier will modify its aircraft used on the Doha – Oslo route, where it currently serves with Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
Qatar Airways offers 14 flights per week between the two cities.
Daily
Daily · this flight will switch to Airbus A350
Seats of these Qatar’s planes
- Airbus A350-900: 283
- Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner: 254
- Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner: 311
Qatar routes in Scandinavia
Copenhagen
- Doha (DOH): 12 weekly · Boeing 787
Evenes · Qatar Cargo
Oslo
It also operates cargo flights to Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, Qatar and the United Kingdom.
Stockholm
- Doha (DOH): 6 weekly · Boeing 787
The airline announced that it will launch a new regular route between Morocco and the United Kingdom effective June 23rd. Operations were initially scheduled during the summer season, but will be available all year round.
Royal Air Maroc will be the only company with flights between Casablanca and Manchester.
Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday
Manchester will be Royal Air Maroc’s second UK destination (and third airport served).
London Heathrow has nine weekly flights, and London Gatwick six.
Between August and September, Royal Jordanian will perform some services between Amman and Manchester with Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners. At present, the carrier operates Airbus A319-100s and Airbus A320-200s on this route.
During this period, Royal Jordanian will have one of the three flights a week on Boeing 787 aircraft (Wednesdays).
Monday, Wednesday and Saturday
The airline confirmed it will expand its operations between Jeddah and London Heathrow effective April 21st.
SAUDIA will increase from eight to fourteen weekly on this route, after receiving leased slots from Virgin Atlantic.
Check schedules, as there will be a different one each day.
Frequency
Jeddah – London (14 weekly)
- SV 113: Friday
- SV 115: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday
- SV 109: Sunday
- SV 107: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday
London – Jeddah (15 weekly)
- SV 106: Daily
- SV 114: Friday
- SV 116: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday
- SV 108: Wednesday
The inaugural Turkish Airlines flight to Tripoli will depart Istanbul at 14:00 local time on March 28th. In accordance with our database, the company will offer three operations per week using Boeing 737-800s.
Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday
Tripoli will be Turkish’s first destination in Libya.
On the Istanbul IST – Tripoli route, Turkish Airlines will be competing with Afriqiyah Airways, Buraq Air, Crown Airlines, Fly Oya, Libyan Airlines, Libyan Wings and Medsky Airways.
Recently, United has opened bookings for its new route between New York (EWR) and Marrakech.
Operations will be during the high season with the 214-seat Boeing 767-300(ER), starting October 24th.
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
It will arrive at 11:20 a.m. in Marrakech from November 5th.
Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
It will depart 13:20 from Marrakech from November 6th.
United Airlines’ routes in Africa
Accra, Ghana
- Washington (IAD): 3 weekly · Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner
Cape Town, South Africa
- Newark (EWR): 3 weekly · Boeing 777
- Washington (IAD): 3 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
Johannesburg, South Africa
- Newark (EWR): 4 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
Lagos, Nigeria
- Washington (IAD): 3 weekly · Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner
With respect to new aircraft, during late February and mid-March, some companies in this region incorporated planes that had just left the factory.
In total, according to our database, seven jets were added to different carriers, from countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye, Ethiopia and Tanzania.
The overall number is lower than in other markets, especially compared to Asia/Oceania, the last published report, where more than 25 new aircraft were acquired.
| Aircraft | Airline | Registration | Ferry flight | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737 MAX 8 | flydubai | A6-FQA | BFI-SNN-DXB | Feb 22nd |
| Airbus A350-941 | Turkish | TC-LGR | TLS-IST | Feb 27th |
| Boeing 737 MAX 8 | Ethiopian | ET-BAI | BFI-DUB-ADD | March 7th |
| Airbus A321-251NX | Pegasus | TC-RDM | TLS-SAW | March 7th |
| Airbus A350-941 | Turkish | TC-LGS | TLS-IST | March 15th |
| Boeing 737 MAX 9 | Air Tanzania | 5H-TCQ | BFI-SJU-DKR-DAR | March 26th |
To read the other reports we have published during March, you can click on the following links:
Cover photo: Christopher Main – JetPhotos (Port Elizabeth, South Africa).
