Why This Page Is Different from a Price Comparison Site
Search "flights to Africa from London," and you'll mostly get price-aggregator results — live fare grids updated by the hour, filterable by date and airport. They're genuinely useful for a raw number, but they won't tell you which airport actually makes sense for your destination, what the visa and vaccination requirements are for where you're going, or help you build a multi-city trip. That's the gap we fill: real fare quotes from a person who knows the route, plus everything else you need to actually book with confidence.
London Really Is Your Best UK Departure Point
Across the roughly two dozen airlines currently flying direct from London to African destinations — a wider network than any other UK city offers — London gives you more non-stop options to major African capitals than Manchester, Birmingham, or Glasgow combined. That matters because a non-stop flight isn't just faster; it's usually the difference between a straightforward booking and a multi-leg itinerary with its own connection risk.
Which London Airport, and Which Route
- Heathrow (LHR) — the hub for almost every long-haul, non-stop African route: Lagos, Abuja, Accra, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Cairo all fly direct from here with British Airways, and several also with Kenya Airways, South African Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and EgyptAir.
- Gatwick (LGW) — a smaller but growing base for African routes, including some lower-cost and seasonal options.
- Stansted and Luton (STN/LTN) — the base for budget, short-haul North African routes to Marrakech and Tunis, run by carriers like Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, and Vueling.
If you're headed to West, East, or Southern Africa, Heathrow is almost always the answer. For Morocco or Tunisia specifically, it's worth comparing Stansted and Gatwick against Heathrow, since the budget carriers on those routes can undercut the legacy airlines substantially.
Direct Routes from London — What Actually Flies Non-Stop
- Lagos, Nigeria — British Airways
- Abuja, Nigeria — British Airways and Air Peace
- Accra, Ghana — British Airways
- Nairobi, Kenya — British Airways and Kenya Airways
- Johannesburg, South Africa — British Airways and Virgin Atlantic
- Cape Town, South Africa — British Airways (seasonal on some other carriers)
- Cairo, Egypt — British Airways and EgyptAir
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Ethiopian Airlines, also a useful onward connecting hub into East and Southern Africa
- Casablanca, Marrakech, and Tunis — Royal Air Maroc, easyJet, Ryanair, and Wizz Air
Destinations without a non-stop option — including Abidjan and several other West and Central African cities — generally route through Paris, Brussels, Istanbul, Doha, Dubai, or Amsterdam. Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Emirates run particularly wide connecting networks into Africa and are worth pricing even on routes with a direct option, since their fares can undercut non-stop carriers depending on the week.
What the Fare Data Actually Shows
Recent aggregate fare data for this route puts average round-trip prices somewhere in the £580–£800 range depending on season, with the cheapest fares typically appearing in the off-peak months of February and November — outside UK school holidays and well clear of the December–January peak. A few practical patterns worth knowing:
- Day of the week matters — departing earlier in the week and returning later in the week tends to price lower than weekend travel on this route
- Time of day matters less obviously than you'd think — evening departures have sometimes priced lower than early-morning ones, though this varies by airline and route
- Booking window — pricing generally firms up as you get inside 3–4 weeks of departure; for the lowest fares, booking further out (several months ahead) is usually the safer bet, though the very cheapest fares sometimes appear opportunistically rather than on a fixed schedule
These patterns shift constantly, which is exactly why a live quote from someone tracking the route beats a static number on a comparison page — fare data is a starting point, not a guarantee.
Before You Book: Visa and Health Requirements
This is the part most price-comparison sites skip entirely, and it matters as much as the fare. Africa isn't a single visa zone — requirements differ by country, with some nations offering visas on arrival and others requiring one in advance. Check your specific destination's current entry rules through GOV.UK's foreign travel advice.
Several African countries also require or recommend vaccinations before entry, most commonly yellow fever, and some require proof of vaccination for entry or transit. Requirements vary by country and by where you've travelled from recently, so check current guidance through the NHS travel vaccinations page well before you fly — ideally 6–8 weeks ahead, since some vaccines need time to take effect.
Explore Specific African Destinations from London
We arrange flights from London to destinations across the continent, including Lagos, Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria, Accra, Ghana, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, and South Africa (Johannesburg and Cape Town). Each destination page covers city-specific detail — attractions, entry notes, and the best time to visit — so this page stays focused on the London departure side of the journey.
The Part a Fare Grid Can't Do
A comparison site can show you a number. What it can't do is tell you that Air Peace sometimes beats British Airways on the Abuja leg specifically, or that your visa needs sorting six weeks before a Cape Town trip, not six days. That's the actual value of talking to someone who books this continent regularly rather than pulling a live price feed: we quote you properly first — no card details taken upfront, no automated checkout — and you get an answer from a person who's routed this exact journey before, usually within the same day, over WhatsApp or a call.
Get Your Fare
Send us your travel dates and destination and we'll come back with real pricing across British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Turkish Airlines, and more. Call 020 8191 3106, message us on WhatsApp, or fill out the quote form — no online payment needed upfront.