Official of Air France speaking to the media
Air France officially launched the opening of its direct flight between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Accra on Wednesday in Ghana.
The launch, which was under the theme, ‘France and Ghana 1957-2017: moving forward together,’ heralded activities planned to celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations between France and Ghana, this year, through a series of economic, cultural and educational activities.
Jean-Marc Janaillac, president of Air France/KLM, in a speech noted: “The new Air France direct flight between Paris and Accra is a strong symbol of the strengthened partnership between France and Ghana. It will undoubtedly aim at reinforcing the business relations between the two countries as well as promoting tourism, culture and education in both sides.”
“Direct flights to Paris Accra will help to reinforce this trend while facilitating cultural and tourist flows between our two countries. Air France will offer three weekly flights to Accra, Ghana from Paris-Charles de Gaulle.
There is growing interest of French companies, particularly in Ghana’s strategic sectors such as energy, transport infrastructure, modernization of identification systems and agro-food industries.
In sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana is just behind South Africa, the 7th largest receiving country for French investment, with a USD 1.5 billion stock.
Dick van Nieuwenhuyzen, Air France-KLM Country Manager for Ghana, said the Air France-KLM group now offered 10 flights between Ghana and Europe; seven to Amsterdam and three to Paris, with extra seats, which was good for the market in Ghana.
François Pujolas, French Ambassador to Ghana, said the opening of the new route showed the growing interest for Ghana in France and the growing partnership between the two countries.
Air France would operate three flights a week between Paris Charles De Gaulle and Kotoka international airport, Accra, using an Airbus A330 with a capacity of 208 seats until March 2017 and a Boeing 777-200 aircraft, with 312 seats after March; both in three-class configurations.
The A330 has 40 Business class, 21 Premium Economy and 147 Economy class seats, while the Boeing 777-200 will have 28 in Business class, 24 in Premium Economy and 260 in Economy.
“This represents a 50 percent capacity growth for the next summer season and this shows how we are confident of the success of this new route.”
By Samuel Boadi
samuel10gh@yahoo.com