► TURKEY: Turkish Airlines to boost Algiers, Kigali/Entebbe, launch flights to Tobruk.

Turkish Airlines (TK) will effect various changes to its African route network over the coming weeks with flights Algiers to be increased from daily to 11x weekly with effect from September 18 until October 26. Additionally, AirlineRoute writes that the Entebbe via Kigali route will see a 6th weekly flight from October 27 with the frequency to go daily come November 14. The airline is also expected to announce its the launch of 3x weekly flights to its 4th Libyan destination, Tobruk, in mid October.

► NIGERIA: Turkish Airlines to start 4x weekly Ndjamena via Kano flights from December.

In line with an announcement made in mid-March during the commissioning of the newly renovated and expanded international terminal at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Turkish Airlines (TK) are set to begin 4x weekly flights from Istanbul to Ndjamena, Chad via Kano, Nigeria with effect from December 12. Flights will operate using a Boeing 737-800.

► SOMALIA: Turkish Airlines says strongest performing route is Mogadishu.

Turkish Airlines (TK) has announced a marked growth in the number of passengers flying to Turkey and onward to its other international destinations.  Between January and June 2013, Turkish Airlines saw a 25.8 percent increase in global ticket sales over the same period in 2012, a total of more than 22.4 million passengers with African traffic accounting for a significant proportion in that increase.

► ERITREA: Turkish Airlines set to start Asmara flights "soon" following the end of bilateral talks.

Turkish Airlines (TK) is set to make Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, its next destination in its growing Horn of Africa network following recent talks between the Eritrean government and a Turkish business delegation which delved into issues pertaining to Ethiopia and Eritrea; developments in the Horn of Africa, as well as bilateral relations between Turkey and Eritrea.

► KENYA: Turkish Airlines boosts Mombasa via Kilimanjaro to daily from late October.

Turkish Airlines (TK) will, from October 27, be increasing its Istanbul – Kilimanjaro – Mombasa – Istanbul round trip frequency from 5x weekly, to daily, with the route operated by a Boeing 737-900ER. The route was launched in December 2012.

► EGYPT: Turkish Airlines boosts Cairo, Alexandria frequencies from June.

Following the conclusion of a revised Bilateral Air Services Agreement with Egypt, Turkish Airlines (TK), will from 15JUN13, increases its Istanbul Ataturk – Cairo  services, where it’ll operate 21 weekly flights. The Star Alliance member currently operates 17 weekly flights. Additionally, Alexandria will be boosted to daily effective 13JUN..

► CONGO (KINSHASA): Turkish Airlines revealed as potential partner for new Congolese national carrier.

Turkish Airlines (TK) has been revealed as the potential partner the Congolese government has approached apropos the setting up of a renewed national carrier to replace the semi-defunct LAC Lignes Aériennes Congolaises (4V).

■ EGYPT: New BASA signed with Morocco as a revised one with Turkey still pending says EHCAAN boss.

The North African countries of Morocco and Egypt on May 5 finalized a renewed Bilateral Air Servcies Agreement which will see frequencies between the countries doubled from the previous seven, to fourteen weekly for each country's respective designated carrier(s). According to the head of the Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation (EHCAAN), Engineer Magdy Abd El-Hady Hafez, the revised BASA also allows for Egyptair (MS) to serve other cities outside of Casablanca, including the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

► DJIBOUTI: Turkish Airlines to boost Mogadishu, Djibouti flights to 5x weekly from October.

Turkish Airlines (EK) will, from 27OCT13, adding a 5th weekly frequency on its Istanbul – Djibouti – Mogadishu route, through the addition of a new Sunday flight from Istanbul, Mondays from Djibouti and Mogadishu. 

► TURKEY: Turkish Cargo outlines its planned Africa Summer 2013 network.

According to the airline’s latest schedule listing, Turkish Airlines Cargo’s Summer 2013 planned operation as follow. The airline did not specify operational aircraft in its schedule listing. 

► TURKEY: Turkish Airlines boosts Lagos, Dar es Salaam ops from May.

Turkish Airlines (TK) is to boost its capacity and frequency between Istanbul and Lagos and Istanbul and Dar es Salaam. Changes will come into effect from late May.

► SOMALIA: Turkish Airlines to start flights to Somaliland in June?

Following recent talks held in Turkish capital, Ankara, between Turkish Government officials and a delegation from Somaliland, an unrecognised, self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia, flights between Istanbul and Berbera, a port town on the Red Sea, are to begin later this year.

► GABON: Finally, Turkish Airlines to start Libreville via Douala from late January.

Following on from our previous post last year, Turkish Airlines (TK) will at last launch flights to Libreville Gabon via Douala, Cameroon from 31 January 2013. The 3x weekly service will be operated with a Boeing 737-900ER.

► TURKEY: "Leaked" document purportedly shows Turkish Airlines' planned Africa route expansion plans for 2013.

A leaked document (and we use the term "leaked" in the loosest possible way) purporting to show Turkish Airlines' (TK) intended route expansion time line has been published on the web. According to the document, TK is planning an aggressive expansion into West and Central Africa though Southern Africa appears to remain largely neglected for the foreseeable future.

► TURKEY: Egyptair increases Istanbul from 14x to 17x weekly from January 2013.

Egyptian national carrier, EgyptAir (MS), from 16 January 2013, will increase its frequency between Cairo and Istanbul, Turkey, from 14x to 17x weekly.

► DUBAI: Afriqiyah to launch 2x weekly Benghazi, Tripoli - Dubai flights from 20 December.

According to their official Twitter account, Libyan airline Afriqiyah (8U) has announced that its inaugural flight to Dubai will operate from both Benghazi and Tripoli twice weekly using an Airbus A330-200.

► TANZANIA: See Pics of Turkish Airlines inaugural Kilimanjaro route launch.

Turkish national carrier, Turkish Airlines (TK), added Kilimanjaro, Tanzania and Mombasa, Kenya to its growing global network last week 5 December, when the first of its 5x weekly Boeing 737-900ER operated flights, touched down.

► CAMEROON: Turkish Airlines to start 4x weekly Yaounde, Douala flights from late December.

Turkish Airlines (TK) has announced another route into Central/West Africa; this time to Cameroon. The Turkish carrier, which recently celebrated adding its 200th aircraft to its ever growing fleet, will serve the cities of Yaounde and Douala 4x weekly with a Boeing 737-900ER effective 21 December 2012.

► LIBYA: Air Libya gets two B737-400s; an ARJ-100 set to arrive shortly.

Air Libya (7Q), the private Libyan carrier formerly known as Tibesti Air Libya, has announced the lease of 2 Boeing B737-400 for use on its daily Benghazi - Alexandria, Egypt flights.

► NIGER: Turkish Airlines to start 3x weekly Niamey, Ouagadougou flights from December.

Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding and a Bilateral Air Services Agreement between the Governments of Niger and Turkey in May, the Nigerien ministries of Foreign Affairs and Transport today  announced that Turkish Airlines is to start flights between Turkey, Niger and Burkina Faso effective mid December.