Nearly five years have passed since the start of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, and the airline industry has largely recovered. So how many direct flight connections will there be between the United States and the African continent in November 2024 compared to pre-pandemic November 2019?Africa is home to a total of approximately 1.4 billion people But that’s far more than North and South America combined. Air travel between the U.S. and Africa has significantly outpaced the recovery from the pandemic, according to Cirium data.
Airlines operating between the United States and Africa
Comparing the November 2019 and November 2024 data for direct flights from Africa to the United States, we found a remarkable result: the number of flights increased by 33%.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
In 2019, seven airlines flew from Africa to the United States: two from the United States and four based in African countries. Two US-based airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, serve Africa. American Airlines is famous for not flying to Africa (there’s a reason why American Airlines doesn’t fly to Africa), but Southwest Airlines doesn’t have a system set up to accept Canadian dollars, so they also fly to Canada. I haven’t.
Airlines operating between the US and Africa in November 2024
Royal Air Marco EgyptAir Delta Air Lines United Airlines Kenya Airways Ethiopian Airlines
Two of the six African airlines in 2019 were North Africa (Royal Air Maroc of Morocco) and EgyptAir. three sub-Saharan African airlines (Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways and South African Airways); One of the airlines of the African island nation of Cape Verde (Cape Verde Airlines) does not fit neatly into the North Africa/sub-Saharan Africa divide.
Delta Air Lines Once Planned Massive Expansion in Africa – What Happened?
Changes to flights from the United States to Africa
Notably, US-based Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are leading the growth in intercontinental flights. Overall, the number of monthly flights increased from 640 to 852, an increase of 33%.
Photo: Kevin Hackert | Shutterstock
Delta’s flights increased from 160 flights in November 2019 to 232 flights in November 2024. This represents a 45% increase in the number of flights, with a total of 59,506 seats in November 2024. Delta Air Lines is the airline with the most flights and seats between the United States and Africa. It flies to South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana (West Africa) and Morocco.
Airline:
Flights in November 2019
Flights in November 2024
change
Royal Air Maroc:
134
112
-16%
Delta Airlines:
160
232
+45%
Ethiopian Airlines:
91
150
+65%
Kenya Airways:
44
60
+36%
EgyptAir:
86
74
-14%
South African Airways:
112
0
-100%
United Airlines:
0
224
+100%
Cape Verde Airlines:
13
0
-100%
total:
640
852
+33%
United Airlines did not have any flights to Africa in November 2019, but it has 225 flights scheduled for 224 flights, ranking second behind Delta Air Lines. United’s African destinations are similar to Delta’s, including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, and Morocco. All of these routes (with the exception of Newark to Marrakech, Morocco) are operated by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners. There are daily flights to Johannesburg, South Africa, but most fly three times a week.
Related United Airlines expands into Africa: The only US airline to fly nonstop from Newark to Marrakech
Marrakech will be United Airlines’ fifth destination in Africa.
Changes to flights from Africa to the United States
Two African-based airlines (Cape Verde Airways and South African Airways) are not scheduled to fly to the United States in November 2024. While Ethiopian Airlines may have been a sub-Saharan success story, the same cannot be said for South African Airways. It was once the leading airline in sub-Saharan Africa, but went bankrupt in 2019, but resumed operations in 2021 and is currently undergoing reconstruction.
Photo: Croatrum | Shutterstock
Despite the large-scale civil war (and a series of other disruptive civil wars) ravaging parts of Ethiopia (particularly between 2020 and 2022), the number of Ethiopian Airlines flights to the United States has decreased from 91 to 150. 65% increase in stool. The airline’s maximum percentage increase (from a non-zero starting point) during the period.
Ethiopian Airlines has become one of the stars of sub-Saharan African airlines, offering some of the best connections to the African continent (with relatively few connections between Africa). Ethiopian Airlines makes its hub in Addis Ababa its main hub throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, in the Western world, Ethiopian Airlines is probably better known for Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, the crash of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 in March 2019 (an incident that was linked to the Boeing MAX crisis that still plagues the company). ).
airline
Seats November 2019
Seats November 2024
change
Royal Air Maroc:
38,508
32,368
-16%
delta airlines
40,044
59,506
+49%
Ethiopian Airlines:
25,155
43,136
+71%
Kenya Airways:
10,296
14,040
+36%
EgyptAir:
26,574
24,790
-7%
South African Airways:
30,780
0
-100%
United Airlines:
0
54,024
+100%
Cape Verde Airlines:
2,379
0
-100%
total:
173,736
227,864
+31%
Photo: Abdul N. Quraishi – Abs | Shutterstock
Kenya Airways also managed to increase its flights to the US by 36%. EgyptAir and Royal Air Maroc both saw slight declines, with flights down 14%, seats down 7%, flights down 16%, and seats down 16%, respectively. There are no scheduled flights with Cape Verde Airlines in November 2024.
Africa is the second largest continent in the world and has a lot to see and do. It’s one of the least explored regions of the world, and all too often it’s in the news for all the wrong reasons. Sub-Saharan Africa is best known for its animal safaris, but there’s much more to it than that. The relative lack of flights to just seven of Africa’s approximately 56 countries suggests there is much more potential.
