Business News of Monday, 19 November 2012

Source: thebftonline

Asky commences Accra-Banjul flight

Asky Airlines, a regional passenger airline headquartered in Lomé, Togo, has commenced a thrice-weekly Accra-Banjul direct flight.

The thrice-weekly flights are on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays and depart Accra at exactly 2:35pm local time on the specified day. Asky Airlines also operates daily flights to Abidjan via Lomé and direct flights to Monrovia, Freetown.

“It is our vision to connect countries within the West African sub-region and the rest of the continent. We provide safe, affordable and comfortable air travel for all our passengers,” Mr. Worlanyo Afadzinu, Country Manager, Asky Ghana, told the B&FT in an exclusive interview.

“We operate modern fleets, which are Boeing 737-700 and Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, that ensure the safety and comfort of our passengers, he added.

The airline operates three Boeing 737-700 and three Bombardier Dash 8 Q400- aircraft. The Boeing 737-700 aircraft uses the most advanced navigation technology available today.

It can seat up to 118 passengers and offers larger, pivoting overhead stowage bins that add to the openness of the cabin.

The bins give more passenger-room to store a carry-on roll-aboard near their own seat, adding both extra convenience and extra leg-room.

Asky Airlines is scheduled to begin flights to Pointe Noire in the Congo, and Bange, in Central African Republic (CAR) soon. Pointe Noire is the second-largest city in the Congo, after the capital, Brazzaville, and the main commercial centre of the country.

Pointe Noire is the centre of the oil industry in the Congo, which is one of the main oil-producers in Central Africa

The Asky Airline was founded in June 2008 by Ethiopian Airlines, which holdS a 40 percent stake in ASKY. Originally planned for April 2009, the first revenue flight took place on January 15, 2010.

The airline serves 18 destinations on the African continent: includinG Cotonou, Ouagadougou , Douala, Yaoundé , N'Djamena, Kinshasa, Brazzaville, Abidjan, Libreville, Monrovia, Bamako, Niamey , Abuja, Lagos and Freetown. It uses Lomé’s Tokoin Airport as a hub.