It sure is an aspirational time for many African airlines. In late October Kenya Airways launched daily nonstop flights between Nairobi and New York. The daily route didn't last long, and the flight is already down to 5x weekly frequencies (and I'd guess we'll see further reductions soon). But arguably an even more aspirational airline…
Continue reading: RwandAir’s New York Flight Will Operate Via Accra, Ghana
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I’ll watch Delta deploy one of their own A330neo on JFK-ACC as their response 😉
Not sure what's the reasoning behind so many obscure airlines deciding to open a route to New York lately. The economic viability is clearly not justified.
@chub
It's more likely Delta - an airline that shrinks in the face of head-to-head competition - will cancel their service to Accra.
Things are really looking up in Ghana what with this service to New York and Global Ghana Airway's service to Chicago! Pretty soon Accra will be a West African hub much like Addis Ababa is in the East.
LOL
@Lucky - if you want to go see the gorillas, the permit is half the price in Uganda compared to Rwanda ($800 vs $1600). Permits are limited each day and I find if you want to do this you need to book it like a year in advance!
That one n only looks amazing though.
I've been to Rwanda, great country with a lot to see. But, I can't think of anything that would make me less want to revisit than that terrible video (where the videographer fell in love with the slo-mo feature).
For all those who doubt that this can work, they should know that Rwanda is one of the fastest growing economies in the world (on par with China) in perhaps the fastest growing region in the world. Ethiopia is now growing faster than China.
Makes me think of when SQ bought a 747 to fly to London, and people laughed because who would possibly need or even want to fly between those places!
@Super VC10
Yea that’s more possible, considering they handed out SEA-HKG to Cathay on a golden platter.
People laughed when Emirates started up with just a few smaller aircraft. Who's laughing now!
Africa is a fast developing untapped market. Just wish somebody would consider flying from Australia to other destinations in Africa apart from Johannesburg
Accra is a sizeable business travel market served by many full service airlines (AF, KL, LH, BA, EK, KE, etc...). However, I dont believe there is a direct flight from anywhere in the US at the moment. So this seems like a smart move.
I fly Europe to Accra in J few times a year and just found out that Air Italy also flies there from Milan (with a stop in Nairobi). Maybe I will check out Air Italy's business class the next time I go.
Ghana is a really interesting tourist destination. Heard a lot of bad stuff about it before I went (lots of crime, unfriendly people, etc.). NONE of this was true, so I am quite happy for the Americans who can travel there now.
Now, I am quite concerned about people flying more and more. Simply because of the environmental problems that comes with the aviation industry, but that is probably another discussion…
@Frog - there are nonstop flights to ACC from JFK with Delta and IAD with SAA.
@chub
And gave-up SFO - NRT, which had been successfully flown for decades by Northwest, because they didn't want to compete with United!
While I think the expansion of African airlines is great and it provides greater non-stop connectivity to the continent, I recently was in Kigali and I wonder whether the airport can handle all the extra flights. I was waiting for my flight to Kenya, the flight to Brussels was being boarded, and two additional intra-African flights were being boarded and the entire waiting area was completely full (in fact, it was overcrowded). Considering American security usually want separate waiting areas and additional screenings, it's hard to imagine that given the current situation at Kigali airport