Air Cte dIvoire is the national airline of the Republic of Cte dIvoire. The small African carrier is spreading its wings in a major way, as the airline is taking delivery of wide body aircraft, and launching long haul flights. Along those lines, the carrier’s first long haul route has just gone on sale, and…
Continue reading: Air Côte d’Ivoire Launching Abidjan To Paris Flights With New Airbus A330neos
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You should write an article about all the new first class products that is basically just a business plus product, like Air India, Starlux, Etihad A321 and Air Cote d'Ivoire.
Also, have you seen Garuda Indonesia now released First Class for sale for many upcoming months on the DPS-NRT route?
Was thinking the same... considering they had a contest and all, food looks really unappetizing in those photos
At least Etihad prices their "First class" sensibly. Those first class pricing on Air Côte d'Ivoire and Starlux are just... Ouch
They have opened the sale of tickets. However, their booking engine doesn't seem to have been set up for premium economy and first class. When doing a dummy booking, only eco and biz fares are available. Also, I would not put a lot of money that the inagrual flight is on the 15th of October. Travel demand in second half of October will be limited due to the upcomming election (25th Oct). AF has already cancelled flights in that period.
According to Aeroroutes, HF will fly the plane to Congo late this month.
Separately, the airline’s A330-900neo is scheduled to operate nonstop Abidjan – Brazzaville route on 23SEP25 and 27SEP25 with following schedule.
HF830 ABJ1500 – 1930BZV 339
HF831 BZV1010 – 1240ABJ 339
A flight shorter than Paris - New York, no night flights scheduled, an airline with an image at best decent, no tradition of gastronomy or elegant service in Ivory Coast, cafeteria-style food pictured so far, pricing equivalent, in $ per mile, to Air France "La Première", so many reasons why First Class will fail. They still have time to spare themselves the humiliation and to shelve the First Class plan, reserving instead the first row to VIPs and special clients, but they won't:
Abidjan's most prestigious hotel, long ago, was the Ivoire Intercontinental, good but not phenomenal. Its one distinctive feature was to boast an ice rink which operated year round. An ice rink ? In sub-Saharian Africa with routine temperatures above 100 degrees F and a with a very large percentage of the population below the poverty level? You have read right. This is buffoonesque.
It is suprising that you seem to be surprised by the pricing. Let me add that along with the pricing many of these smaller airlines face a connectivity problem as having a lack of codeshares and partners.
I checked for flights in economy in March and I saw that Corsair massively slashed their prices around 500€ return (granted their economy is in 3-3-3) and the prices I find on HF are in line with Air France (around 800€)... Can't see any Premium Economy fares but business also seems to be aligned with AF.
Not everything will show up on a balance sheet. This is clearly intended as a 'halo effect' product and they'll get government VIPs and probably some benefit from upgrading a few CIPs from business. I also like the daytime nature of the flights as it's always better to sleep in a actual bed as opposed to an airplane seat. If I had unlimited money, I would definitely consider flying HF in one of their premium cabins (as I don't have unlimited money, I will only visit ABJ on a business redemption on AF).
I'm not necessarily saying that the introduction of the F product is a good idea, but it doesn't sound criminally stupid to me.
They are calling it Business class Suite and looks like a buy up from business class. There is a 3D tour on their website.