Tourism Update has summarised air services set for 2018 so far, from domestic, regional, and long-haul international flights departing and arriving in southern and east Africa.
Africa: Domestic flights
-Airlink added a second direct flight to its Cape Town-Nelspruit Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA) route last year. The additional flights operate everyday day of the week, except Saturdays.
-British Airways (BA) added two daily flights last year to its Johannesburg-Port Elizabeth route, operated by Comair.
-Fastjet will fly between Kigoma and Dar es Salaam, from March 1, operating every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
-Fastjet launched Mozambique domestic flights on November 3 last year, making it the first LCC brand to enter the Mozambican market.
-FlySafair will up its frequency between Lanseria and George, between May and October.
-FlySafair launched a Durban-Port Elizabeth route and on November 27, 2017, launched its Durban-East London service.
-Mango will increase frequencies on its Johannesburg-Zanzibar route from March 8. In addition to the airline’s existing Tuesday and Saturday schedule, it will operate a Thursday flight departing from OR International Airport (Ortia).
-Proflight Zambia added a mid-afternoon flight to its Ndola-Lusaka service. This will be the fourth daily return flight for the airline on this route.
Regional inter-Africa flights
-Auric Air announced a new daily Serengeti-Kigali-Serengeti route in January, with immediate effect.
-Air Botswana introduced an additional flight between Cape Town and Gaborone in September last year.
-Air Mauritius will be upping frequency on its Durban route, effective April 18. In addition to its Monday, Wednesday and Saturday flights, the airline will operate a flight on Sundays.
-Air Mauritius terminated its Maputo service as of August 9.
-Air Namibia will reinstate flights on its Accra route in June. The flights will fly to Accra via Lagos.
-Air Seychelles has increased capacity on its Johannesburg route until March 21.
-Congo Airways will launch flights from Kinshasa to Johannesburg on February 28, with three weekly flights.
-Ethiopian Airlines, as of December last year, operates three weekly direct flights from Addis Ababa to Zanzibar every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
-Ethiopian Airlines will fly to Kisangani and Mbuji-Mayi in the DRC, with flights launching in March.
-FlyAfrica, a Zimbabwean LCC, will launch two new routes – Harare-Johannesburg and Harare-Cape Town in April.
-Fly540, a Kenyan LCC, has resumed flights between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, five years after pulling out of the route.
-Jambojet started operating two daily flights between Entebbe and Nairobi on February 15.
-Kenya Airways will launch a non-stop, direct flight from Nairobi to Cape Town from June 6, operating every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
-Kenya Airways has added three more weekly flights on its Johannesburg route, reinstating early-morning flights on specific days from June 6.
-Kenya Airways will launch flights to Mauritius in June, operating four times a week.
-RwandAir will commence Kigali-Harare-Cape Town flights on May 16, operating four times a week.
-RwandAir will launch four weekly flights to Abuja, Nigeria, from April 15.
-SAA increased capacity on its Johannesburg-Mauritius route from January 8.
-Silverstone Air launched daily flights to Lodwar in north-western Kenya on January 19, departing from Wilson Airport in Nairobi.
-Singapore Airlines will be increasing frequency on its Johannesburg route between July 1 and August 31.
Long-haul international flights
-Alitalia will commence flights between Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome and OR Tambo International Airport (Ortia) on April 8.
-Air France will fly three times a week between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Nairobi from March 25.
-Air Seychelles will be suspending its Paris and Antananarivo (Madagascar) routes, effective April 24 as part of its strategic transformation plan ensuring long-term profitability and sustainability of the airline.
-Air Seychelles commenced a series of weekly charter flights between Chengdu, China, and Mahé on December 26 last year and will run until March 20.
-BA will fly direct from London Heathrow to the Seychelles from March 24, with flights operating on Wednesdays and Saturdays from March to October.
-Cathay Pacific will launch non-stop seasonal flights between Hong Kong and Cape Town, commencing November 13 until February 18, 2019.
-Ethiopian Airlines will operate flights from Addis Ababa to Chicago, with a stop-over in Dublin from June 9.
-Ethiopian Airlines has introduced direct, non-stop flights to Washington DC and Toronto, effective March 1.
-Ethiopian Airlines will operate five weekly flights between Buenos Aires and Addis Ababa from March 8. Flights from Addis Ababa will route via São Paulo.
-Etihad will cancel its flights between Abu Dhabi and Entebbe as of March 25.
-Eurowings, an LCC that forms part of the Lufthansa Group, launched flights between Cologne and Cape Town on November 5, 2017.
-Flydubai will be flying from Dubai to Kinshasa, DRC from April 15 with daily flights.
-Flydubai commenced flights to Kilimanjaro International Airport on December 15, 2017, operating six times a week.
-Joon, operated by Air France, will fly three times a week between Charles de Gaulle in Paris and Cape Town International Airport, from April 1.
-Kenya Airways will introduce daily flights between Nairobi and New York in October, after securing a landing slot at JFK.
-Latam Airlines added two flights to its Johannesburg-São Paulo route, launching on November 17, 2017 and will run until March 24, 2018.
-Qatar Airways will increase its Doha-Windhoek route between July 3 and August 30.
-RwandAir launched direct flights to Brussels from Kigali, operating three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
-SAA will reduce frequency on its London route in March; in addition SAA has scaled back on its Australia route, starting in February and will continue throughout March, May and June due to low market demand.
-Singapore Airlines will fly daily to Cape Town via Johannesburg from March 26.
-TAAG will operate an additional direct flight between Cape Town and Luanda, operating four times a week, effective March 25.
