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“Most of my work starts in Lagos, but it doesn’t stay there for long,” says Anita Ashiru. She’s one of the sole production designers working in Nigeria, where her team builds multi-scale sets and stage designs for the country’s booming Afrobeats industry. Requests often come at a whim for work; Ashiru might be called abroad by the likes of frequent collaborator Davido, a Nigerian-American singer-songwriter who frequently shoots music videos in South Africa.
Ashiru’s job is one that largely didn’t exist 10 years ago, she says, but the recent growth of the West African music industry has allowed her to live, work, and travel extensively throughout the region, frequently finding herself working in Johannesburg for weeks at a time. “South Africa is a creative hub in different ways,” she tells Condé Nast Traveler. “We don’t really have that kind of system in Nigeria. It feels like stepping into a designer’s dream.”
Traveling between Nigeria and South Africa wasn’t always this easy. Domestic travel in Africa has long been a challenge due to continent-wide infrastructure issues, including bureaucratic hurdles and the lack of connectivity between nations. But in recent years, the rise of cross-continental industries like e-commerce, fintech, and the arts has allowed for an influx of new flight paths catering to business travelers like Ashiru.
Ashiru’s carrier of choice, South Africa Airways, has placed a particular focus on boosting domestic service within Africa, increasing its flights to Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo in late 2024. The airline also bumped its Lagos to Johannesburg service to four times a week, beginning in November of last year. Long-haul air links to the continent have increased, too: Delta Air Lines recently resumed seasonal service from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Lagos, and United Airlines inaugurated a brand-new route from Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) to Dakar, Senegal in May.
Of course, the return of in-person meetings and conferences has spurred a rebound in air travel to more traditional business hubs as well. Take Singapore Airlines’ direct flight from Newark to Singapore, configured only with business and premium economy seats, or United Airlines’ five times weekly service from Chicago to Zurich.“That’s not tourists looking for Swiss Chocolate,” says aviation expert Mike Arnot. “That’s business demand. Every airline is trying to fly these kinds of routes.”
A Delta spokesperson tells Traveler the airline is focusing on Rio de Janeiro as a “strategic corporate and business market” due to its recent growth amongst business travelers for 2025. Delta expanded its existing partnership with the LATAM group this year in order to increase connectivity between Brazil and the US, including with the launch of a new Boston to São Paulo route in January. This runs alongside regular flights to Rio De Janeiro, which connect to dozens of international airports via Delta’s Atlanta hub.
Alex Green
Writer, filmmaker, and label head Jesse Bernard frequently flies from London to Rio with the LATAM network when producing documentaries and organizing nightlife events. He’s the head of COMO VOCÊ, a transatlantic record label that works across London and Brazil’s cultural capital.
“I’ve noticed when you’re flying to countries within the African diaspora, there’s a sense that most of the people on the flight aren’t there for a holiday,” he says. “There is a sense of familiarity; it’s people traveling to London for work or traveling back for the same. They aren’t necessarily tourists.”
