Travellers reach United Kingdom from 12 African airports on 13 catalogued routes, flown by British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, South African Airways, EgyptAir, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, RwandAir. This corridor sits in the outbound diaspora corridor. The tables below list every catalogued route, the carriers on it, and — where our cache has data — the lowest USD fare seen; all fares are quoted in USD, with on-the-ground spending in GBP.
Routes to United Kingdom
13 catalogued corridors reach the United Kingdom from 12 African airports, flown by 9 carriers and totalling about 133 weekly departures, with block times from 3.5 h to 11.7 h. 2 of them run fewer than seven times a week, the line where a cancellation starts costing days rather than hours.
| Route | Carriers | Freq/wk | Block (h) | Market low (USD) | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johannesburg (JNB) → London (LHR) | BA, VS, SA | ~35 | ~11.5 | — | guide |
| Lagos (LOS) → London (LHR) | BA, VS | ~14 | ~6.5 | $477 | guide |
| Cape Town (CPT) → London (LHR) | BA, VS, SA | ~7 | ~11.5 | $456 | guide |
| Accra (ACC) → London (LHR) | BA | ~7 | ~6.7 | $624 | guide |
| Cairo (CAI) → London (LHR) | MS, BA | ~14 | ~5.0 | — | guide |
| Harare (HRE) → London (LHR) | BA, VS | ~4 | ~10.5 | $531 | guide |
| Nairobi (NBO) → London (LHR) | BA, KQ | ~14 | ~8.5 | $351 | guide |
| Abuja (ABV) → London (LHR) | BA, VS | ~7 | ~6.5 | $428 | guide |
| Addis Ababa (ADD) → London (LHR) | ET, BA | ~7 | ~7.5 | — | guide |
| Casablanca (CMN) → London (LHR) | AT | ~7 | ~3.5 | — | guide |
| Entebbe (EBB) → London (LHR) | BA | ~7 | ~8.5 | $494 | guide |
| Johannesburg (JNB) → Manchester (MAN) | BA | ~3 | ~11.7 | — | guide |
| Kigali (KGL) → London (LHR) | WB, QR | ~7 | ~10.5 | — | guide |
2 of these corridors run fewer than seven times a week, which is the line where disruption stops being an inconvenience. Below daily frequency, a cancellation can mean days rather than hours, and re-accommodation onto another airline requires an interline or codeshare agreement rather than goodwill. If your dates into United Kingdom are fixed, prefer the higher-frequency gateway even at a higher fare.
Airlines flying to United Kingdom
9 carriers fly the corridors into the United Kingdom covered here; for the 9 we hold details on, checked-baggage baselines run from 23 kg to 30 kg, and 8 of them belong to a global alliance. Baselines are economy figures and depend on the fare family you buy.
Carriers operating the catalogued routes to United Kingdom, with alliance, baggage baseline and any diaspora or pilgrim baggage uplift:
| Airline | Alliance | Checked baggage | Diaspora uplift | Hajj/Umrah charter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Airways (BA) | Oneworld | 23 kg | — | No |
| Virgin Atlantic (VS) | SkyTeam | 23 kg | — | No |
| South African Airways (SA) | Star Alliance | 23 kg | +5 kg | No |
| EgyptAir (MS) | Star Alliance | 23 kg | +18 kg | Yes |
| Kenya Airways (KQ) | SkyTeam | 23 kg | +5 kg | No |
| Ethiopian Airlines (ET) | Star Alliance | 23 kg | +5 kg | Yes |
| Royal Air Maroc (AT) | Oneworld | 23 kg | +23 kg | Yes |
| RwandAir (WB) | None | 23 kg | — | No |
| Qatar Airways (QR) | Oneworld | 30 kg | +10 kg | Yes |
Diaspora and migrant-worker baggage uplift recorded against these carriers: Royal Air Maroc +23 kg, Ethiopian Airlines +5 kg, Kenya Airways +5 kg, EgyptAir +18 kg, Qatar Airways +10 kg and South African Airways +5 kg. Three exclusions normally apply to promotions of this kind: they attach to nominated corridors rather than the whole network, they are rarely honoured on another airline’s codeshare or interline segment, and the deepest-discount fare buckets are usually carved out. Confirm against your own booking class in writing.
Visa & entry — United Kingdom
Entry rule for United Kingdom, by passport: Standard Visitor visa needed in advance for South African, Nigerian, Kenyan, Ghanaian, Botswanan, Namibian, Zambian and Zimbabwean passports (UK visa-national list); Mauritius and Seychelles are not on that list. Fee £135 for a Standard Visitor visa of up to 6 months; maximum stay Up to 6 months per visit. A transit stop can need its own visa even airside.
Entry rules by named nationality (verify against the official source before booking):
| Entry type | Fee | Max stay | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Visitor visa needed in advance for South African, Nigerian, Kenyan, Ghanaian, Botswanan, Namibian, Zambian and Zimbabwean passports (UK visa-national list); Mauritius and Seychelles are not on that list | £135 for a Standard Visitor visa of up to 6 months | Up to 6 months per visit | official |
Fee and stay from gov.uk/standard-visitor; whether you need a visa at all: gov.uk/check-uk-visa. Biometrics are taken at a visa application centre.
One caveat governs this whole section: nationality. United Kingdom does not treat every African nationality alike — fees, eligibility and even the application channel differ between ECOWAS, EAC, Maghreb and Southern African passports, so rely only on a rule that names your passport.
Worth knowing before booking: Fee and stay from gov.uk/standard-visitor; whether you need a visa at all: gov.uk/check-uk-visa. Biometrics are taken at a visa application centre.
When to book
Book 3-5 months ahead. That window is our guidance for the outbound diaspora corridor traffic that dominates travel into the United Kingdom, based on how fares on these corridors behave in our own weekly log. Every fare on this site is quoted in USD.
Book 3-5 months ahead. Fares climb steeply around the December holidays and the summer, when diaspora travel peaks. See each per-route guide for month-by-month fare seasonality.
What a booking window really measures is scarcity. Where United Kingdom is served several times a day, seats keep being released and a late buyer is only paying a premium; where it is served twice a week, the cheap inventory is committed early and lateness is not a price problem but an availability one. Frequency, not the calendar, tells you which case you are in.
If your dates cannot move, stop optimising and buy. Pilgrimage seasons, school terms and contract start dates concentrate demand into the same days, and on United Kingdom corridors that concentration is what sets the price. Where dates can move, moving them beats every other tactic: our weekly log shows larger swings between departure months than between booking sites.
Cached fares to United Kingdom
$351 is the lowest USD quote our cache holds on any corridor into the United Kingdom — on NBO-LHR — out of 7 priced corridors of the 13 catalogued. Each is one cached observation on its own corridor, in economy, not a low across the cache.
Lowest USD fares in our weekly Travelpayouts cache on routes to United Kingdom (market lows across all carriers, each a dated observation; check live prices before booking):
| Corridor | Market low (USD) | Cheapest month seen |
|---|---|---|
| NBO-LHR | $351 | $351 in Jul 2026 |
| ABV-LHR | $428 | $429 in Aug 2026 |
| CPT-LHR | $456 | $416 in Oct 2026 |
| LOS-LHR | $477 | $382 in Jul 2026 |
| EBB-LHR | $494 | $494 in Jul 2026 |
| HRE-LHR | $531 | $519 in Jul 2026 |
| ACC-LHR | $624 | $537 in Sep 2026 |
| Corridor | Readings | Cached range (USD) | Cheapest week |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACC-LHR | 6 | $489–$624 | 2026-W24 |
| CAI-LHR | 6 | $142–$265 | 2026-W20 |
| CMN-LHR | 4 | $153–$165 | 2026-W20 |
| JNB-LHR | 4 | $361–$408 | 2026-W29 |
| JNB-MAN | 3 | $404–$449 | 2026-W23 |
| LOS-LHR | 4 | $428–$477 | 2026-W23 |
| NBO-LHR | 4 | $358–$403 | 2026-W20 |
| CPT-LHR | 3 | $405–$459 | 2026-W29 |
Those rows come from our weekly fare log, which samples the cheapest published quote once a week across 161 corridors. Each reading is a single snapshot rather than an average of everything sold that week, so a one-week dip can be one small fare bucket. What the range does establish is a defensible floor: a live quote far above the top of the range on a United Kingdom corridor is worth a second search on flexible dates.
Departure airports for United Kingdom
12 African airports have a catalogued corridor to the United Kingdom on this site, including Abuja (ABV), Accra (ACC), Addis Ababa (ADD), Cairo (CAI), Casablanca (CMN), Cape Town (CPT), Entebbe (EBB) and Harare (HRE) and 4 more, all listed below. Fares from every one of them are quoted in USD so the origins stay comparable.
-
Abuja airport (ABV) — Nnamdi Azikiwe International, Nigeria: 5 catalogued departure corridors and 1 arrival corridor.
-
Accra airport (ACC) — Kotoka International, Ghana: 11 catalogued departure corridors and 3 arrival corridors.
-
Addis Ababa airport (ADD) — Bole International, Ethiopia: 13 catalogued departure corridors and 6 arrival corridors.
-
Cairo airport (CAI) — Cairo International, Egypt: 12 catalogued departure corridors and 1 arrival corridor.
-
Casablanca airport (CMN) — Mohammed V International, Morocco: 17 catalogued departure corridors and 0 arrival corridors.
-
Cape Town airport (CPT) — Cape Town International, South Africa: 7 catalogued departure corridors and 1 arrival corridor.
-
Entebbe airport (EBB) — Entebbe International, Uganda: 6 catalogued departure corridors and 2 arrival corridors.
-
Harare airport (HRE) — Robert Mugabe International, Zimbabwe: 6 catalogued departure corridors and 1 arrival corridor.
-
Johannesburg airport (JNB) — O.R. Tambo International, South Africa: 39 catalogued departure corridors and 6 arrival corridors.
-
Kigali airport (KGL) — Kigali International, Rwanda: 8 catalogued departure corridors and 3 arrival corridors.
-
Lagos airport (LOS) — Murtala Muhammed International, Nigeria: 19 catalogued departure corridors and 2 arrival corridors.
-
Nairobi airport (NBO) — Jomo Kenyatta International, Kenya: 19 catalogued departure corridors and 6 arrival corridors.
FAQ
Do I need a visa for United Kingdom? Standard Visitor visa needed in advance for South African, Nigerian, Kenyan, Ghanaian, Botswanan, Namibian, Zambian and Zimbabwean passports (UK visa-national list); Mauritius and Seychelles are not on that list
What currency is used in United Kingdom? United Kingdom uses GBP. Plan on-the-ground spending in GBP and compare airfares in USD.
How many routes go to United Kingdom from Africa? Our catalogue lists 13 routes to United Kingdom from 12 African airports — see the table above.
When are flights to United Kingdom cheapest? Book 3-5 months ahead. Fares climb steeply around the December holidays and the summer, when diaspora travel peaks.
Which airlines fly to United Kingdom? Carriers on routes to United Kingdom include British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, South African Airways, EgyptAir, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, RwandAir. See the per-route airlines in the table above.
How cheap are flights to United Kingdom? The lowest cached fare to United Kingdom in our weekly snapshot was about $351 on NBO-LHR — a dated observation, not a current price. Fares move with season; the route guides show each fare with the date it was found.
Search live fares
13 catalogued corridors into the United Kingdom means a live search will return several routings for the same dates; the lowest cached floor across them in our weekly snapshot was $351 — a dated observation, not a current price. Dates move the price more than any other variable. Fares across all 13 of those corridors are quoted in USD on this site so origins in different African markets stay comparable on one page.
Search flights to United Kingdom on Aviasales ->
Three checks make results comparable. Fix passenger count and cabin before comparing, because a per-passenger fare and a total look identical on a results page. Read the elapsed time next to the price — a one-stop routing into United Kingdom and a nonstop are different products. And check whether the fare includes the checked bag you will actually carry.
A month view beats a date view on United Kingdom corridors. The seasonal spread our fare log records between departure months is consistently larger than the spread between booking sites on the same day, which means calendar flexibility is worth more than shopping around. Locked dates invert the advice: buy sooner.