Qatar Airways is expanding its African network with new routes and more flights from June, as Gulf companies push deeper into the continent. The Doha-based carrier will resume flights to the Seychelles and Kigali, add a daily service to Marrakesh, and launch a new route to Port Sudan as it kickstarts a network hampered by the Iran war.
UAE state-backed firms have so far led Gulf investments into Africa — spanning agriculture, mining, renewable energy, and ports, to overtake China as the largest foreign investor — but other players are pouring into the continent with the world’s fastest growing population.
Power International Holding, owned by Qatari billionaire siblings Moutaz and Ramez Al-Khayyat, is bidding for a contract to build a $12.5 billion airport near Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa — set to be the continent’s largest — and a 400-km highway project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bloomberg reported. The group is also planning a bovine airlift — one of its signature moves — of 30,000 dairy cows from the US to Algeria. Meanwhile, Dubai-based ride-hailing platform Yango Group plans to invest at least $150 million in Africa this year, entering 10 new markets as it bets on smaller cities its larger rivals have overlooked.