The group of African men had waited all night in suspense for the gate for the Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Bogota to be announced.

Ten of the thousands who each month embark on the trek were camped out on the floor using their tiny rucksacks as makeshift pillows while the airport's bright blue departure screens flickered with fresh updates.

'Where is it going from?' asked Latif Abubaker, a 26-year-old Ghanaian national, just after 6 a.m. Wednesday. Flight TK800 will not take off for another four hours.

'D13, I told you.' his friend and compatriot Morgan Obu, 29, replied, his voice shaking with excitement: 'We need to get there early.'

The pair, who declined to have their pictures taken, had traveled via Marrakesh, Morocco, from their home in Accra to get to Turkey's largest city.

That is because Istanbul-Bogota is the hottest plane ticket in town right now for many young Africans seeking to earn more money or flee alleged persecution at home.

This is the Biden Express, the first leg of a major new smuggling route across the Atlantic that ultimately allows migrants to flood into – and in many cases remain in – the United States.

Greedy people-smugglers are snapping up seats only to sell them on to desperate migrants at hugely inflated prices.