African airlines compete to dominate Africa-Americas transatlantic skies

A fierce competition takes place in African skies to dominate flights to the Americas pitting Royal Air Maroc against unrelenting competitors such as the Ethiopian airlines, South African Airlines, Kenyan airways and Egypt air.

Every month a new connections is announced by African airlines linking the continent to the US, Canada or Latin America, air routes that were until a recent past only served by European airways.

African airlines saw potential for growth in such air routes attracting the African diaspora eager to cut costs and save time on transatlantic flights

Morocco’s RAM airlines launched recently a new flight to Boston, bringing to four the air routes it operates to the US, a destination in which it faces competition from Cabo Verde Airlines, which also serves flights from its capital to Boston.

RAM has widened the gap with its competitors by serving two airports in Brazil as well as Canada, making its Casablanca hub a calling point for Africans heading to the Americas.

Cabo Verde airlines takes advantage of Cape Verde’s position in the Atlantic ocean as it launched recently a flight to Brazil’s Salvador.

Ethiopian Airways, the mightiest carrier in Africa, launched on June 17 a direct Addis Ababa-New York flight via Abidjan facing no competition on this US route.

The Ethiopian flag carrier also serves the airports of Washington DC, Los Angeles, Toronto and Sao Paolo in Brazil.

The South African airlines have also introduced flights to Washington Dulles and Sao Paolo departing from their Johannesburg hub.

Other growing companies such as Air Senegal and Tunis air are planning transatlantic flights towards New York by 2020.

Passenger traffic between Africa and the Americas jumped from 2.9 million in 2012 to 3.7 million in 2017, hence the race towards taking a chunk by African airlines which see a growth potential of 6% annually for the next twenty years.