Lilongwe - Post Report Question and Answers
What is your home city/country? How long is the trip to post from there, with what connections? How easy/difficult is it to travel to this city/country?
From Dulles it is roughly a 19 hour flight via Ethiopian Airlines. Only 3 airlines to travel to and from: South African, Ethiopian, and Kenyan - Jul 2020
Jacksonville, FL. It takes a while: two hours to DC, and then to Lilongwe via either Addis or Johannesburg. It takes at least 24 hours door to door. It's not the easiest place to get to as you are limited in direct flights to Harare, Lusaka, Addis, Nairobi, Dar, and Johannesburg. Addis and Johannesburg are daily. - Feb 2020
Washington DC. Shortest flights are about 24 hours: IAD to Addis Ababa and then Addis to Lilongwe. Alternatively, some folks fly through Jo'burg. - Sep 2018
Home is in the midwestern U.S. Usually we fly from Lilongwe to Joburg to Atlanta to the midwest. - Jul 2017
Florida is "home" and it takes approx 22 hours flight time and an overnight in Joburg. The 3 most common routes as of now from the U.S. are Atlanta to Johannesburg on Delta and then Joburg to Lilongwe (Malawian Airlines), sometimes with a stop in Blantyre; Dulles to Addis Abba to Lilongwe (Ethiopian); and JFK to Joburg to Lilongwe (United/South African). The Atlanta to Joburg flight is the 2nd longest flight at 16hr 45min!
Flying almost anywhere from here is expensive (~US$500). In addition to Joburg and Addis, you can also get to Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
The airport in LLW is easy and about a 20 min drive from most housing. - Oct 2016
Home base is New York. We typically fly through JNB, so a 2.5 hour flight from Lilongwe to JNB and then 16 hours direct to New York. It's also easy to go through Nairobi and Europe or Addis and Europe, so there are options! But it's a long multi-step trip. - Aug 2015
Long travel times back to the U.S. via Johannesburg, Nairobi, or Addis Ababa are to be expected. We prefer the Johannesburg to Atlanta flight as it is overnight each way which makes it slightly more manageable with children. - Sep 2013
You can go VIA Europe, or on a long direct flight from SA to Atlanta. Wherever you're headed in the States, it's always about two days' travel time. - Sep 2012
