Afrinat International Airline Inaugural Flight Monday
The Daily Observer (Banjul)
NEWS
September 27, 2002
Posted to the web September 28, 2002
Banjul
Afrinat International Airline -- AIA -- will make its first inaugural
flight on Sunday September 30, 2002. The new West African air carrier will
provide the only Transatlantic service from the US via JFK International
Airport in New York City to four West African destinations, namely: The
Gambia, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Cameroon.
A fifth destination, Sierra Leone, will be added in the near future.
The inaugural flight will depart JFK's terminal on September 30, and arrive
in The Gambia on September 30, 2002 at 11.45 with pressmen including the
CNN. This announcement was made by Sam Ofori, President of the AIA.
The airline begins a regular scheduled service of four departures a week.
Alken Tours, based in Brooklyn, New York, has been appointed the General
Sales Agent in the US for Afrinat.
Afrinat International Airlines operates two aircraft, a B747 that offers
three classes of service: 12 in First Class; 32 in Business Class and the
remainder in the Economy Class.
Afrinat was started by a group of African businessmen who were frustrated
by the difficult connections and expensive air service to the US,
especially with the vacuum created after the demise of Air Afrique.
Sam Ofori, the president of the AIA, who is a Ghanaian, said: "we wanted to
provide affordable and convenient air service for both business and leisure
passengers to promote tourism and investment in West African countries. It
costs more for Americans to fly to West African countries than it does for
them to fly to Russia or China, yet flying time to Banjul is only seven
hours from New York." The midnight departure enables passengers from all
points in the US to connect to Afrinat. The four departures a week provide
flexibility in a business traveller's schedules that may require him to
extend his stay for a day or two. The frequency allows a traveller to catch
another flight without having to wait a whole week.
On cultural promotion and exchanges, Mr Ofori noted that the carrier wanted
to provide scholarships for students to visit Africa and encourage cross-
cultural exchanges between America and West Africa.
The country director of Afrinat in The Gambia, Mrs Joko Fatou Bojang,
expressed delight and happiness at the start of Afrinat International
Airlines services and promised the general public of better services.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Copyright © 2002 The Daily Observer. All rights reserved. Distributed by
AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
--
There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see,
yet small enough to solve (Mike Leavitt)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
