Dubai-based Emirates Airline is expanding its footprint in Africa with new services to South Africa and Angola. Starting from 1 October and 25 October respectively, Emirates will begin services via Dubai to Durban in South Africa with an A330-200 and Luanda in Angola utilising B777-300ERaircraft.

Tim Clark, president, Emirates Airline, said the carrier has seen strong growth in Africa of 17 per cent. “Now, with Luanda and Durban starting in October, this is going to be another very exciting year in this largely untapped continent.”

Located in the northwest of Angola, Luanda is the capital of the African country that boasts the highest trade volume with China. Angola, around five times the size of the UK, is the continent’s second largest oil exporter after Nigeria. Other natural resources the country is abundant in includes diamonds, gold, iron, copper and uranium.

Edwin Lau, Emirates’ Vice President, Greater China, said, “the relationship between China and Angola is strengthening every year and many Chinese companies are carrying on investment projects or governmentfunded redevelopment projects in Angola.”

Emirates said it’s SkyCargo division will provide assistance on both routes with the belly hold of passenger aircraft being used to transport a range of mostly consumer commodities in and out of the trade-rich continent.

In all, 16 passenger and cargo destinations are currently served by Emirates in Africa including: Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Cairo, Cape Town, Casablanca, Dar es Salaam, Eldoret, Entebbe, Johannesburg, Khartoum, Lagos, Lilongwe, Nairobi, Tripoli and Tunis.