22 September 2026

Emirates Puts A350s on Nairobi and Mauritius and Adds Second Daily Accra Service

Emirates will deploy the A350 to Nairobi from late October and Mauritius from November and adds a second daily Accra service, with African load factors above 75% over the summer.

Commercial & Air Travel

An Emirates Airbus A350 in flight above cloud at sunrise. — Emirates will fly the A350 to Nairobi from late October and to Mauritius from November. [Emirates]

Edited by:

African Pilot Newsdesk

Why this article matters
Nairobi and Mauritius move to the A350 and Accra gains a second daily service, which changes both the capacity and the cabin on offer from those airports, since the A350 carries the airline’s latest interiors including Premium Economy. Africa sat among the regions holding seat load factors above 75% through the summer, with South Africa, Ghana, Egypt and Côte d’Ivoire tracking ahead of last year.

For the airports concerned, a second daily frequency and a newer type affect slot use, ground handling turns and connecting flows through Dubai, where Emirates moves about 13,000 connecting passengers a day. The A350 network is set to reach 36 destinations by the end of the year, which is where further African deployments would show up.

Of Interest
- Emirates will operate the A350 to Nairobi from late October 2026 and to Mauritius from November.
- A second daily service is being added to Accra.
- Seat load factors across Africa ran above 75% during the summer.
- Emirates carried 8.6 million passengers in July and August 2026.
- Eleven A350s and seven Boeing 777 freighters have been delivered since January 2026, with six more A350s due before 31 December.
- Zanzibar is among the flydubai destinations most booked by Emirates customers.

Emirates will fly the Airbus A350 to Nairobi from late October and to Mauritius from November, and adds a second daily service to Accra, under the network changes it has set out for the winter season.

Africa was among the regions where seat load factors ran above 75% over the summer, alongside West Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. The airline puts demand from South Africa, Ghana, Egypt and Côte d’Ivoire ahead of the same period last year, and carried 8.6 million passengers across July and August 2026, with more than 500,000 arriving in Dubai in late August, 7% up on 2025.

Eighteen aircraft have joined the fleet since January 2026, made up of 11 A350s and seven Boeing 777 freighters, with six further A350s due before 31 December. The type serves 30 destinations at present and is to reach 36 by the end of the year, with Larnaca, Malta and Hamburg added from late October and Helsinki opening as a new destination on 1 October.

Emirates infographic setting out passengers carried in July and August 2026, aircraft delivered since January 2026, retrofit and Premium Economy totals, network additions and cabin product changes. — Emirates summer performance and winter season figures as published by the airline. [Emirates]

The retrofit programme has covered 104 aircraft, 53 Boeing 777s and 51 A380s, and 137 aircraft now carry Premium Economy and the airline’s latest cabin products, a figure Emirates expects to reach 155 by 31 December. Around 50 aircraft have Starlink connectivity fitted, with installations continuing. Retrofitted 777s go to Stockholm in October and Frankfurt in November, and one of the daily Delhi services moves to the A380.

Second daily services also start to Tokyo Narita, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Emirates holds 168 codeshare, interline and intermodal partnerships reaching a further 1,750 cities, and its combined network with flydubai covers more than 214 destinations in over 100 countries. Zanzibar is among the flydubai destinations most booked by Emirates customers, and flydubai added Benghazi in June 2026.

Premium Economy is sold on services to 90 destinations, with six more due before the end of the year, among them Paris, Delhi and Stockholm.