Spanish national carrier Iberia expanded its network in Africa during July 2012 with the inauguration of flights to Accra, the capital of Ghana, and Nouakchott in Mauritania. The route launches followed shortly after the oneworld alliance member sent its first ever delegates to Routes Africa as it looks to strengthen its presence across the Continent.

The new link from Madrid to Nouakchott was launched on July 12, 2012 and is being operated on a twice weekly basis via Las Palmas using a 200-seat Airbus A321. The service was originally due to commence in April and is intended to meet demand for travel between Mauritania, the Canary Islands, and other European destinations, including business travel especially relating to the Mauritanian fisheries industry.

Five days later on July 17, 2012, Iberia introduced a twice weekly link between Madrid and Accra, becoming the only carrier to offer non-stop flights between Spain and Ghana. The service operates from Europe on Tuesdays and Fridays and night-stops in the Ghana capital before returning on Wednesdays and Saturdays and reflects increasing European investment in Ghana, one of Africa’s fastest-growing countries, as well as a significant interest of European tourists in the area. The route is being flown using a 122-seat Airbus A319 fitted with Iberia’s new Business Club premium cabin.

“Our new flight Madrid - Accra responds to the needs of those companies investing in the incredible natural resources of Ghana, so it will hopefully contribute to the increasing business activity in the country,” said Ángel Valdemoros, Director International Sales. “The opening of this new route shows the commitment of Iberia with Africa, as this is the area where the company has grown the most in the last couple of years: we started operations in Rabat and Luanda last year and now serve a total of 13 destinations in Africa.”

Iberia currently flies to Algiers and Oran in Algeria; Casablanca, Marrakech, Rabat, and Tangier in Morocco; Dakar (Senegal), Cairo (Egypt), Lagos (Nigeria), Luanda (Angola) and Malabo (Equatorial Guinea). Under codeshare arrangements with other airlines its network reaches another 11 points across the Continent. Iberia is currently the 22nd largest carrier by seat capacity when you study flight schedules between Europe and Africa, and the 15th largest European operator in this market offering 189 departures during August 2012, providing approximately 31,000 seats in each direction.

In the table below we highlight the largest carriers between Europe and Africa by seat capacity in August 2012 and compare the month’s schedules with the same period in 2011. As can be seen the analysis is dominated by the airlines of North Africa which have prevalent links into EU markets, particularly France, the home of the two largest European-domiciled carriers in the analysis.

There has been a 3.1 per cent increase in capacity in this market when you compare August 2012 with the same month last year. All but one of the top ten airlines have increased capacity, four with more than double digit rises as the growth in the market becomes clear. Iberia, which accounts for just 1.2 per cent of the total seat capacity has increased availability by 9.0 per cent year-on-year.