KLM has restored its Africa network as of the start of July. While frequencies may not match 2019-levels yet, the airline is again flying to 11 destinations across the continent. This winter, the airline will also be flying to a new African destination. Here’s a look at where KLM is flying.
KLM’s African network
KLM is back to flying to 11 destinations in Africa this summer. This is the exact same number of destinations the carrier flew to in 2019. The airline is flying to the following destinations from its hub at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS):
- Accra (ACC)
- Cairo (CAI)
- Cape Town (CPT)
- Entebbe (EBB)
- Johannesburg (JNB)
- Kigali (KGL)
- Kilimanjaro (JRO)
- Lagos (LOS)
- Nairobi (NBO)
- Zanzibar (ZNZ)
- Dar es Salaam (DAR)
As you can see from the above map, not all destinations are served nonstop. There are a few triangle routes in operation. For example:
- AMS-JRO-DAR-AMS
- AMS-ZNZ-DAR-AMS
- AMS-KGL-EBB-AMS
The major African cities, like Nairobi, Lagos, and Johannesburg, all see nonstop service. Widebodies are also flying across the network. This includes the Boeing 787, 777, and Airbus A330.
Also read: Tanzania: KLM adds flights to Zanzibar this December
Recent changes to KLM’s network
KLM, pre-crisis, used to fly to Luanda (LAD) in Angola and Windhoek (WDH) in Namibia. However, KLM decided to permanently cut those points from its network amid reduced customer demand before the health crisis hit.
To compensate for those two lost points, the airline added Zanzibar and Cairo to its network. Both were added in 2020. So, while KLM is back to its 2019-levels in terms of the number of points served, it is not flying to the same destinations.
A new destination will come to KLM’s African network this winter. Mombasa (MBA) in Kenya will start on October 17th. However, on the way back from Mombasa, flights will make a stop in Nairobi, which is the main hub for SkyTeam carrier and KLM partner Kenya Airways. Mombasa flights are scheduled to run through March on a seasonal basis.
KLM is coming back to Africa as the crisis continues to unfold. While destinations across the continent may continue to see spikes in case counts and various travel restrictions, KLM has offered customers the opportunity to make necessary journeys.
Another large component of flying to Africa involves cargo. Even if KLM’s flights are not going out full, the ability to carry belly cargo at a profit and keeping communities and countries connected to the global supply chain is a huge asset to KLM.
In addition, this makes it easier for KLM to scale up frequencies and load factors once travel restrictions are relaxed across Africa. At this time, much of the continent has strict entry requirements in place, allowing only some necessary journeys to take place.
