British Airways boosts African footprint

29 May 2013

As Africa becomes more recognised as the most promising investment destination in the world, airlines are re-positioning themselves to maximize their operations on the continent that is on the radar screens of most investors.

British Airways boosts African footprint

One such airline is British Airways (BA), which since acquiring British Midland International (bmi) just over a year ago, has this year substantially increased its African network adding three additional destinations and 20 more services.

Schedule increases to East and Southern Africa include upping the Nairobi frequencies from seven to eight a week. In South Africa, BA added three more frequencies to Johannesburg, on top of the existing double-daily services to the country's business hub and its direct daily Cape Town-London flights, which increase to double daily over the southern hemisphere summer peak season.

In West Africa it started flying three times a week to Sierra Leone and Liberia. The new flights to these fast-growing regional economies are in addition to the well-established West-African routes in Ghana and Nigeria.

In Morocco, it has just announced an increase in its schedule to Marrakech from daily to 10 flights a week and added a third weekly service to Agadir. The additional frequencies go on sale immediately. The Marrakech services increase on 28 October 2013 with the third Agadir flight starting on 29 October.

This is the second time in less than a year that the airline has grown its Morocco services. Late last year it added four flights a week to Marrakech and began a twice-weekly service to Agadir.

Ian Petrie, regional commercial manager for Africa comments: "The acquisition of bmi has enabled us to expand our flying programme in Africa to serve 18 routes in 15 countries. We now fly to more places, more often than we ever have before in the 80 years we have served the continent. These flights link growing African destinations to London and provide onward connections to the world's business capitals."

In addition to this international network, British Airways' franchise partner, Comair, operates to domestic and regional destinations in South and Southern Africa, flying over 700 departures a week. It recently added Maputo to its regional network.

For more on British Airways' African network and timetables, go to www.ba.com.