Summary
- Air France will return to Kilimanjaro in November.
- Paris was Kilimanjaro’s largest unserved European market last year.
- Air France will fly to 39 African airports, with 32 in the sub-Saharan region.
Last year, approximately 310,000 roundtrip passengers flew between Europe/North America and the outdoor leisure destination of Kilimanjaro. Paris was the largest unserved market. They were attracted to Africa’s largest mountain and other nearby national parks.
Having last served the market 28 years ago in 1996, Air France will return in November in time for the peak northern winter, which is the warmest and driest time to visit the area. My jam-packed weekly routes article will cover it when it takes off.
Bonjour, Kilimanjaro!
Air France will leave Paris CDG for Kilimanjaro on November 18. The route will be served three times weekly on the Airbus A350-900.
Photo: Airbus
As is so common in Africa, it will operate with a stop. It will route triangularly with Zanzibar, also in Tanzania, which joined Air France’s network in the COVID-hit 2021. Zanzibar is currently tagged with Dar es Salaam, just 39 nautical miles (73 km) apart, which welcomed Air France in 2023.
At the time of writing, it is unclear if Dar es Salaam will be served on a standalone basis, removed from Air France’s network, or tagged with another destination. Dar has a different flight number than Kilimanjaro, suggesting it will be kept.
Kilimanjaro is scheduled as follows, with all times local. Flights will leave Paris CDG during Air France’s largest Africa-bound departure bank but arrive at a quieter time.
- Paris CDG-Zanzibar: AF874, 10:10-21:10
- Zanzibar-Kilimanjaro: AF874, 22:55-23:55
- Kilimanjaro-Paris CDG: AF874, 01:25-08:50
Image: OAG
Air France will join sibling KLM to Europe, along with Discover, Edelweiss, and Turkish Airlines. There is no suggestion that KLM will abandon the long-served route for Air France. Booking data shows that Ethiopian Airlines and Qatar Airways, in particular, play a vital role in transporting passengers between Europe/North America and Kilimanjaro via their Addis Ababa and Doha hubs.
Related
Continent’s Largest Carrier: Ethiopian Airlines Now Serves A Record 81 African Destinations From Addis Ababa
Four airports joined its passenger network in May and June.
Air France’s 39th African airport
From November 18, when Kilimanjaro flights will be operational, Air France plans to serve 39 African airports. Some 32 airports are within sub-Saharan Africa, mainly because of the Francophone connection and the increasing growth elsewhere on the vast continent.
Image: OAG
Yet its sub-Saharan network is less comprehensive than Turkish Airlines (39 airports). But it is much more extensive than others, including Qatar Airways (23, now including Kinshasa), Brussels Airlines (18, again including Nairobi), Emirates (18, rising to 25 with partner flydubai), Lufthansa (eight), and British Airways (seven).
When all of Air France’s non-stop and one-stop, same-plane, same-flight-number services are combined, its 10 most-served sub-Saharan airports are as follows. They are based on weekly departures from Paris between November 18 and 24, when Kilimanjaro will be served.
As usual, details may be different at other times. I have only stated sub-Saharan destinations. To make things clearer, I have not mentioned the specific routings for those destinations with a one-stop service.
- Double daily from Paris: Abidjan
- 12 weekly: Reunion
- Daily: Bamako, Brazzaville, Conakry, Dakar, Douala, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos, Libreville, Lomé, Mauritius, Nairobi, Yaoundé
- Five weekly: Accra, Antananarivo, Cotonou, Luanda, Ouagadougou, Pointe-Noire
- Four weekly: Abuja, Cape Town, N’Djamena, Niamey, Nouakchott
- Three weekly: Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Malabo, Zanzibar
- Twice-weekly: Bangui
- Weekly: Djibouti
Windhoek has been mentioned as a potential future Air France destination in the sub-Saharan region. Where else would you like the airline to fly? Let us know your preferences in the comments section.