Morocco flight to be American's first Africa service

American Airlines will operate its first flight to Africa next year with thrice-weekly service between Philadelphia and Casablanca, Morocco, between June 4 and Sept. 8.

The flights will be operated on single-aisle Boeing 757 aircraft.

The route launch will follow the admittance of Casablanca-based Royal Air Maroc into the Oneworld alliance, of which American is a member. The alliance partnership will facilitate one-stop connections for American customers to destinations such as Marrakech, Morocco; Lagos, Nigeria; and Accra, Ghana.

Royal Air Maroc operates its own Casablanca service to New York, Washington Dulles, Boston and Miami, but no U.S. carrier serves Casablanca.

American's move into Africa is slated to follow United's return to the continent this December with the launch of Newark-Cape Town service. United last flew to Africa in June 2016, when it halted Houston-Lagos service amid falling oil prices. Delta flies to four African cities: Lagos, Johannesburg, Accra and Dakar, Senegal.

Philadelphia-Casablanca is among five 2020 international route launches American announced Wednesday. The carrier will fly Chicago O'Hare-Budapest, Chicago-Prague and Chicago-Krakow five times weekly from May to October. The flights will be operated with Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners. American began flying seasonally to Prague and Budapest from Philadelphia last year, but this will mark the carrier's entry into Poland's second city.

Currently, no other carrier flies Chicago-Prague, according to the website Flight Connections. LOT Polish Airlines offers thrice-weekly service from O'Hare to Krakow and flies twice weekly between Chicago and Budapest.

American will return to Israel late next summer after dropping service in early 2016. The carrier will operate thrice-weekly, year-round flights from its Dallas hub and will be the lone airline on the route. American will fly Dallas-Tel Aviv with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

American said the flight will provide the most efficient routing from tech-heavy Israel to Austin and San Jose, in addition to offering one-stop Tel Aviv service to 33 new cities in the U.S.