Europe and Africa are separated by only a few miles across the Strait of Gibraltar. Situated in the far northwest of Morocco, opposite southern Spain, is Tangier, the country's fourth most populous city. Tangier is the location of the first of this year's CONNECT Route Development Forums, which bring together hundreds of network planning experts from airlines and airports to discuss new opportunities and more. It's being held between February 22nd and 24th, and I'll be reporting from there.
Europe to Africa: the shortest routes
To reach Tangier, I'll fly Iberia Regional from Malaga, just 103 miles (165km) away. The second-shortest scheduled route between Europe and Africa by distance, the flight typically takes 30-35 minutes, according to Flightradar24. I'll fly a 72-seat ATR-72-200, of which Iberia Regional has five. Averaging 9.1 years, they were previously operated by Air Nostrum, but they're now in the hands of Malta's Mel Air, part of the Air Nostrum Group. It is effectively operated by Mel Air for Air Nostrum for Iberia Regional for Iberia.
It raises the obvious question of the shortest routes between Europe and Africa. For this, I've examined all scheduled passenger routes in February-April using Cirium data. These are the results:
Miles (km) |
Minimum block time (either direction) |
Route |
Airline/airlines February-April (in order of flights) |
Find flights |
---|---|---|---|---|
88 (141) |
40 minutes |
Malaga-Tetouan |
Ryanair, Iberia Regional |
|
103 (165) |
45 minutes (including with Iberia) |
Malaga-Tangier |
Iberia Regional, Ryanair |
|
116 (187) |
44 minutes (really!) |
Seville-Tangier |
Ryanair |
|
135 (229) |
50 minutes |
Malaga-Nador |
Ryanair |
|
143 (231) |
40 minutes |
Gran Canaria- Laayoune |
Royal Air Maroc Express, Binter Canarias |
|
182 (293) |
1h |
Palermo-Tunis |
Tunisair Express |
|
191 (308) |
59 minutes |
Malaga-Fez |
Ryanair |
|
213 (342) |
1h |
Murcia-Oujda |
Air Arabia Maroc |
|
221 (356) |
59 minutes |
Malaga-Rabat |
Ryanair |
|
237 (382) |
1h |
Seville-Rabat |
Ryanair |
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Arrive before you leave
When the clocks change in March, Morocco and Tunisia become an hour ahead of most of Europe, including Spain. Combined with short distances and short block times, you arrive before you leave.
Consider Malaga to Tetouan, the shortest route between Europe and Africa. Served up to nine weekly by Ryanair (six weekly) and Iberia Regional (three weekly), Ryanair's schedule on randomly selected April 10th is as follows, with all times local:
- Malaga to Tetouan: FR4539, 12:30-11:15 (arriving 45 minutes before you took off)
- Tetouan to Malaga: FR4540, 11:40-14:20 (leaving Morocco 50 minutes before the aircraft left Spain)
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But, there was a much shorter route...
The shortest Europe-Africa link between 2015 and early 2020 was the 43-mile (69km) hop between Gibraltar and Tangier, pretty much half the distance of Malaga-Tetouan. It was operated by Royal Air Maroc Express's ATR-72s and had as low a block time as 35 minutes.
What is the shortest Europe-Africa route you've flown? Let us know in the comments.