Airports & Airlines

[AfricaHunting.com]

Airports & Airlines

Through this list of links that we have compiled, you will find a variety of valuable resources from international airlines to every major airport and airline in Africa. You will also find a variety of links to help you with your travels from airport maps, flight information and seating layouts to airport shopping and much more.

You may wish to consider using a travel agent that specializes in hunting worldwide or in Africa as they may be familiar with these routes and used to working with these airlines. Specialty travel agents can often get better deals than you can find on major websites or through regular travel agents. I highly recommend TRAVEL EXPRESS, hunting travel specialists, they are the company that I personally use. Jennifer Ginn can help you, she is very knowledgeable and a hunter herself. She can assist you with all aspects of your hunting travel planning from airfare, lodging and car rentals to entry visa's, firearm permits, etc... Click here to visit TRAVEL EXPRESS website www.TravelExpressAgency.com.

World Airport Guide
www.worldairportguides.com

Airline & Airport Quality
www.airlinequality.com

Airplane Seating, In-Flight Amenities & Airline Information
www.seatguru.com

WikiTravel, Open Source Travel Guide
www.wikitravel.org


Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
www.tsa.gov


Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
www.faa.gov


U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs - Travel Warnings & Consular Information
http://travel.state.gov


Major International Airlines


Air France
www.airfrance.us


Alaska Airlines
www.alaskaair.com


American Airlines
www.aa.com


British Airways
www.britishairways.com


Continental Airlines
www.continental.com


Delta Airlines
www.delta.com


KLM, Royal Dutch Airlines (Holland)
www.klm.com


Lufthansa (Germany)
www.lufthansa.com


Northwest Airlines
www.nwa.com


South African Airways
www.flysaa.com


Southwest Airlines
www.southwest.com


Swiss International Air Lines
www.swiss.com


United Airlines
www.united.com


US Airways
www.usairways.com


Airports & Airlines in Africa

Benin

Benin Golf Air
www.benin-golf-air.com
- City: Cotonou
Cadjehoun Airport
Airport Code COO
Located in the city of Cotonou

Botswana

Air Botswana
www.airbotswana.co.bw
- City: Gaborone
Sir Seretse Khama International Airport
Airport Code GBE
Located 9 miles (15 km) north of the city of Gaborone

Burkina Faso

Air Burkina
www.air-burkina.com
- City: Ouagadougou
Ouagadougou Airport
Airport Code OUA
Located in the centre of the city of Ouagadougou

Cameroon

CamAir
www.camair.com
- City: Douala
Douala International Airport
Airport Code DLA
Located 6 miles (10 km) outside the city of Douala
- City: Yaounde
Yaounde International Airport
Airport Code YAO
Located 12 miles (19 km) outside the city of Yaounde

C.A.R. - Central African Republic
- City: Bangui
Bangui M'poko International Airport
Airport Code BGF
Located 4 miles (7 km) northwest of the city of Bangui

Ethiopia

Ethiopian Airlines
www.ethiopianairlines.com
- City: Addis Ababa
Bole International Airport
Airport Code ADD
Located 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the city of Addis Ababa

Mozambique

LAM Airlines
www.lam.co.mz
- City: Maputo
Maputo International Airport
Airport Code MPM
Located 2 miles (3 km) northwest of the city center of Maputo

Namibia

Air Namibia
www.airnamibia.com.na
- City: Windhoek
Hosea Kutako International Airport
Airport Code WDH
Located 28 miles (45 km) east of the city of Windhoek

South Africa

South African Airways
www.flysaa.com
- City: Johannesburg
OR Tambo International Airport
Airport Code JNB
Located 14 miles (22 km) east of the city of Johannesburg
- City: Cape Town
Cape Town International Airport
Airport Code CPT
Located 14 miles (22 km) of the city of Cape Town

South African Airports
www.airports.co.za

South African Airport Shopping
www.airportshopping.co.za

Tanzania

Air Tanzania
www.airtanzania.com
- City: Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam International Airport
Airport Code DAR
Located 8 miles (12 km) southwest of the city of Dar es Salaam
- City: Arusha and Moshi (Northern Tanzania)
Kilimanjaro International Airport
Airport Code JRO
Located 23 miles (37 km) from the city of Moshi and 30 miles (48 km) from the city of Arusha

Zimbabwe

Air Zimbabwe
www.airzimbabwe.com
- City: Harare
Harare International Airport
Airport Code HRE
Located 7 miles (12 km) southeast of the city of Harare

 

[Africaman]

Does anyone know the name of the booking agent that offers cheap flight to Africa? I checked it out awhile back, but can't remember the name of the website.

 

[Clayton]

An impressive list. More than just a few minutes went into generating it.

 

[gordon kings langley]

Hi I have traveled to South Africa some 13 times, with my rifle. I have always used South African airway. They do not charge for firearm transport. In fact they give you a free additational 23 kg.

 

[rookhawk]

Does anyone know the name of the booking agent that offers cheap flight to Africa? I checked it out awhile back, but can't remember the name of the website.

@Africaman I don't know of any cheap booking agents. The usual cast of characters is charging slightly more than published fares or at published fares PLUS the surcharge of $150-$250 for the value-add of dealing with your rifle permits. So no "deals" on price. (but still a value-add)

Most people in the States fly one of three carriers for best pricing: Delta, Emirates or SAA.

There are often better deals through other airlines, two that come to mind for secret deals are KLM and Lufthansa. With the latter it is strongly advised to pay up for a gun travel booking agent because there are so many hidden gotchas with traveling with the latter carriers through a variety of their layover countries.

 

[Hank2211]

Airlines and airports are a funny thing. Jerome is to be thanked for putting this thread together, but there is so much "lore" around airlines and airports when it comes to travel with guns that I'm not sure it's possible to ever have anything approaching 100% certainty. Actually, I'd settle for about 75% assurance, but I'm not sure we can even count on that.

For example, I recently flew Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Jo'burg, and had no issues at all with my rifles. Many have had problems there in the past (even since they eliminated the permit issue). I would not fly KLN both because you need special permits to transit Holland, and because those often don't arrive in a timely fashion. Plus, they will arrest you if you have a folding knife in your checked bags (or so I'm told)!

On the other hand, so many people say don't fly through London with guns that that's become received wisdom as well. I've flown through Heathrow at least 8 times on various safaris, and never have I had even a sniff of an issue. I think - or assume - that the issue in London might be one of arriving in one airport and leaving through another. The movement of the guns between airports (Gatwick to LHR, for example) can, I'm told, be an issue, but it isn't, or hasn't been for me, between terminals at LHR.

As for airlines, apart from one exception, I've never had an issue with Air Canada. I would venture to suggest that if your initial airline takes the guns and ammo - the subsequent airlines will also take them without issue, provided they are in the same alliance (Star Alliance, One World, Skyteam, etc.). If you have to change carriers and the new carrier is not a member of the same alliance, they seem to look at the baggage anew, and that can cause issues. Having said that, my guns went from Air Canada to Air France, which are in different alliances, without a hitch in Paris (except that Air France lost the ammo . . .).

Equally, I have never had a problem leaving Africa, probably because the airports there are more familiar with guns and tend to have established processes for checking them (even if it sometimes requires a bit of "grease" to get the wheels moving).

My conclusion is that with the best of advice and experience, travelling with firearms is like getting through security at airports. There is a randomness which seems to be built into the system which needs to be accounted for in any attempt to describe what will happen.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Airlines and airports are a funny thing. Jerome is to be thanked for putting this thread together, but there is so much "lore" around airlines and airports when it comes to travel with guns that I'm not sure it's possible to ever have anything approaching 100% certainty. Actually, I'd settle for about 75% assurance, but I'm not sure we can even count on that.

Thanks for the insiders information @Hank2211. In regards to traveling with guns there is a more comprehensive article on that topic at the following link:
Importation or Transiting Procedures Through Countries with Weapons & Ammunition: http://www.africahunting.com/thread...ough-countries-with-weapons-ammunition.14376/.

My conclusion is that with the best of advice and experience, travelling with firearms is like getting through security at airports. There is a randomness which seems to be built into the system which needs to be accounted for in any attempt to describe what will happen.

This is very true and the way you interact with the people who you will encounter along the way will influence much of that as well...

 

[HuntingGold]

I appreciate the information as I am now starting to compile the information for my next trip.

 

[Divernhunter]

Africaman---We used Lori at @Travel Express. She is on this site and advertises here. She was excellent even when the airlines screwed up our flight. She got it fixed before it was too late to get on the plane and that was on a Sunday.

 

[TRAVEL EXPRESS]

Africaman / HuntingGold ~ the two direct airlines from the U.S. are Delta & South African Air and travel on them with firearms "should" run very smoothly. There are many factors to consider such as issuing all flights on one ticket, etc that can help your odds. Going through Dubai, Frankfurt, Netherlands, Paris, etc. can mean some legwork in advance with firearms but it is possible.

Nothing is ever a guarantee and can depend on the airlines or agent you get at check-in. I recently had a passenger from Dallas to Washington DC to Johannesburg changing airlines in Washington DC with flights all on one ticket and they did not check his guns/bags all the way to Johannesburg so he had to claim and recheck in Washington DC. There is no reason this should have happened and sometimes you have to be a little proactive with the agent/airlines - politely but adamantly insist that your bags be checked through when they should be. JetBlue will not check your bags through to an international flight but that is clearly stated on their website.

Hope this helps in your planning.........

 

[HuntingGold]

Lori, I appreciate it.
Planning is half the fun!

 

[Philip Glass]

Does anyone know what gate SA 208, IAD to JNB, departs from? This is always hard to find ahead of time for some reason.
Regards
Philip

 

[CAustin]

If flying into Johannesburg SA I would highly recommend using the services of Henry at @riflepermits.com. It makes the process of gun permitting easy. And the meet and greet service will get you through the passport lines much faster.

 

[James hays]

From March 10th thru March 30th, 2019 Delta flights from Atlanta arrive in Johannesburg at 3:35 pm. What does this mean. It means that you can connect flights to Port Elizabeth, Kimberley, Durban, Nelspruit, Bloemfontein on same day without having to spend night in Johannesburg. For example: Flight from San Antonio (SAT) leaves at 12:04 pm arriving Port a Elizabeth (PLZ) at 7:55 pm +1. Price $1,835. Of course you could save a couple of hundred bucks by going via Doha but the time woud be 45 hours as compared to 25 hours. Those flight schedules with +2 are not very appealing to me. Yeah, yeah first part of April is not best time to hunt, still a little warm but you do get close to first pick of trophy animals. I’m going to give it a go next year.

 

[Philip Glass]

From March 10th thru March 30th, 2019 Delta flights from Atlanta arrive in Johannesburg at 3:35 pm. What does this mean. It means that you can connect flights to Port Elizabeth, Kimberley, Durban, Nelspruit, Bloemfontein on same day without having to spend night in Johannesburg. For example: Flight from San Antonio (SAT) leaves at 12:04 pm arriving Port a Elizabeth (PLZ) at 7:55 pm +1. Price $1,835. Of course you could save a couple of hundred bucks by going via Doha but the time woud be 45 hours as compared to 25 hours. Those flight schedules with +2 are not very appealing to me. Yeah, yeah first part of April is not best time to hunt, still a little warm but you do get close to first pick of trophy animals. I’m going to give it a go next year.

So is the DL200 flight schedule changed for the rest of the year as well or just March? That schedule change makes a Big difference for those of us transiting to another country!
Philip

 

[James hays]

So is the DL200 flight schedule changed for the rest of the year as well or just March? That schedule change makes a Big difference for those of us transiting to another country!
Philip

As far as I can tell it's only from Mar 10 thru March 30, 2019 (I did a lot of test itineraries). I wish it was all the time. A hunter could make it from San Antonio to Lusaka Zambia in 25h 56m. As you probably know flight schedules are always subject to change. I hope they at least keep this one or better yet change Delta200 to arrive at 3:35 all the time. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

When the US goes from daylight savings time to standard time or the other way around, the arrival times in Africa can be impacted. Many countries don't change their clocks during the year. For instance, when I lived in Lagos, the time difference between WAT (West Africa Time) and US CT was 6 hours part of the year and 7 hours the other part of the year. The ATL to Lagos flight was about 12 hours, so either the departure time in ATL would change or the arrival time in Lagos would change.

 

[James hays]

When the US goes from daylight savings time to standard time or the other way around, the arrival times in Africa can be impacted. Many countries don't change their clocks during the year. For instance, when I lived in Lagos, the time difference between WAT (West Africa Time) and US CT was 6 hours part of the year and 7 hours the other part of the year. The ATL to Lagos flight was about 12 hours, so either the departure time in ATL would change or the arrival time in Lagos would change.

Arrival times are always listed for local time. This is all that matters to make that connecting flight to your hunting destination.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Arrival times are always listed for local time. This is all that matters to make that connecting flight to your hunting destination.

Yes, I am aware both departure times and arrival times are listed in local times. The point I was trying to make was why the JNB arrival time for Mar 10-30, 2019 is earlier than "normal." I believe it has to do with the US changing from standard time to day light savings time, which does start on March 10 in 2019.

Starting Mar 31, 2019, Delta Flt 200 has a much later departure time from ATL.

 

[James hays]

I understand the one hour difference at time change because JNB doesn’t go to savings time. Yet Delta doesn’t change their departure time til 20 days later. Another peculiar thing I noticed is when they do change it is not an hour but an hour and 38 minutes later. They also fly slower from 15h 11m to 15h 37m (26 minutes slower). Between time changes 11/4/18 and 3/10/19 the bird gets into JNB at 4:3op. This time period not so good to hunt; to hot and too rainy.