Air Côte d’Ivoire is the national airline of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. 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 I’m kind of desperate to take this flight… but oy, that pricing!
In this post:
Air Côte d’Ivoire Abidjan to Paris flights start soon
Air Côte d’Ivoire has just taken delivery of its first of two Airbus A330-900neos, which are in a very premium configuration (so premium that Delta might be jealous), even featuring first class. The airline has now put its first long haul route on sale.
As of October 15, 2025, Air Côte d’Ivoire will launch daily flights between Abidjan (ABJ) and Paris (CDG), with the following schedule:
HF176 Abidjan to Paris departing 3:30PM arriving 11:00PM
HF177 Paris to Abidjan departing 8:00AM arriving 1:30PM
The 3,037-mile flight is blocked at 6hr30min in each direction. As mentioned above, Air Côte d’Ivoire will use an A330-900neo for this service, featuring first class, business class, premium economy, and economy.
That schedule is not what I would’ve expected:
- The plane will always have a short turn in Abidjan, while overnighting in Paris; it must be more expensive to park a plane there for nine hours, no?
- In terms of staffing, presumably flight attendants and pilots will have a layover in Paris of two nights, rather than one
- Clearly this flight is focused on connections beyond Abidjan, rather than connections beyond Paris, as that lines up with a (small) bank of regional flights
The market between Abidjan and Paris is rather competitive, as it’s also operated by Air France and Corsair. This is more premium than most people realize — for example, this is the only destination in Africa where Air France offers its La Premiere first class. Back in the day, Air France even operated its A380 to Abidjan.
I’ve gotta find a way to take this flight!
I’ve been fascinated by Air Côte d’Ivoire taking delivery of its new Airbus A330-900neo. It’s arguably Africa’s most premium heavy wide body jet, and it’s also the first new airline we’ve seen to introduce a four-cabin first class since the launch of Starlux Airlines.
So with this flight now on sale, I have to find a way to book this, given that I try to review all first class products. So, what’s pricing like on this route? If you’re traveling purely between Abidjan and Paris, pricing seems to be a bit lower ex-Abidjan than ex-Paris.
Currently, I see roundtrip business class fares starting at around $2,700, and roundtrip first class fares starting at around $8,600.
Ugh, that first class pricing is really rough, especially since there’s not even a curtain between cabins, and it almost seems like a “business class plus” product. But I also would like to review the product if at all possible.
Ideally I’d fly one-way, and often pricing is cheaper if you’re traveling between other markets, and are simply connecting in Abidjan. So if anyone comes across any significantly better fares that would work with this flight, please let me know, and you’ll get a review as soon as this launches.
For example, a one-way first class Abidjan to Paris ticket costs $6,400, while simply originating in Accra would lower the price by $500, to $5,900. But c’mon, there has to be another market that has much better pricing than that. Too bad Air Côte d’Ivoire doesn’t fly to Cairo, Casablanca, or Colombo (well, maybe not Cairo, but…)
Heck, I’d like to do a bigger African aviation “tour,” as there are four other airlines in the region that I really want to check out ASAP, including visiting my good friends at TAAG Angola Airlines at their new hub. 😉
Air Côte d’Ivoire is obviously very excited about this new route. The airline even held a contest to decide which chef will be catering the inflight meals:
Chef KONAN Vanessa is the winner!
We are thrilled to intreoduce the chef who will sign the menu for our upcoming Abidjan-Paris flights.
To take advantage of this fantastic chance, excellent chefs from our country competed fiercely for several months, using their creativity to outdo one another.
Following the jury’s deliberation, which included our most loyal customers, at a final event held at our partner SERVAIR’s location, KONAN Vanessa received recognition and will have the privilege of designing the menus that will wow our passengers during their Abidjan-Paris flights.
Bottom line
As of October 15, 2025, Air Côte d’Ivoire plans to launch daily flights between Abidjan and Paris using its brand new Airbus A330-900neos. It’s always fun to see a new operator get wide body aircraft, and as a premium product geek, I’m especially intrigued by the carrier offering first class on these planes.
I’m happy to see these flights now on sale, though that first class pricing is a bit higher than I was hoping for. If anyone sees better fares out of other markets that I’m missing, please let me know, and you’ll be rewarded with an imminent review of this product!
What do you make of Air Côte d’Ivoire launching Paris flights?
They are calling it Business class Suite and looks like a buy up from business class. There is a 3D tour on their website.
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.
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...
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.
That ice rink was an unnecessary vanity project... But boy was it fun
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...
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 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...
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
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.
Food looks nasty in those pix
Was thinking the same... considering they had a contest and all, food looks really unappetizing in those photos
Speaking of A330neos, you still have to try Aircalin!
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?
At least Etihad prices their "First class" sensibly. Those first class pricing on Air Côte d'Ivoire and Starlux are just... Ouch