Middle Eastern airlines are strengthening their presence in Africa, reflecting the growing levels of trade and tourism between the two regions.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways and both Dubai-based airlines Emirates and the low-cost carrier FlyDubai have announced new routes to the continent this month.

Etihad Airways has signed a commercial codeshare partnership with Kenya Airways, the national flag carrier of Kenya. Under the terms of the agreement, Kenya Airways will place its KQ code on Etihad Airways’ daily service from Nairobi to Abu Dhabi, which will give access to 32 destinations across Etihad’s global network.

Kenya Airways will start operating three weekly flights between the Kenyan capital and Abu Dhabi from mid-2013.

The agreement follows the launch of new Etihad services to Tripoli and Lagos last year. Over the past five years, the airline has doubled its services to Africa.

The low-cost Dubai-based airline FlyDubai is also eying opportunities in Africa, having just launched a new route to Juba, the capital city of the South Sudan. The route will be operational from 21 April with four flights a week between Dubai Terminal 2 and Juba airport.

Dubai-based airline Emirates announced in mid-February plans to launch a route to Algiers from 1 March. Algiers will be the airline’s 22^nd destination in Africa, having opened up routes to Lusaka, Angola and Harare, Zimbabwe last year.