Ivory Coast targets first direct flight to US

epa04082849 Security forces stand next to a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines plane at the airport in Geneva, Switzerland, 17 February 2014. The hijacked aircraft travelling from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and directed to Rome, Italy, has landed at Geneva's international airport early 17 February. According to media reports, the plane was hijacked by the co-pilot, which Swiss authorities have arrested upon landing. All 200 passengers and crew members are in good health.  EPA/SALVATORE DI NOLFI

Bloomberg

Ivory Coast is in talks with three African airlines to operate the first direct route to the US by early 2018 as the West African nation seeks to attract more investors to its fast-growing economy.
The most advanced discussions are with Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise, which is due to send a delegation to Ivory Coast before the end of the month, Transport Minister Amadou Kone said. Africa’s largest carrier by passenger traffic leads Kenya Airways, which only made “first contact” with the government last week, and South African Airways, he said.
“I’m pushing for it to happen, that we have a flight at the end of the year or in January 2018,” Kone said in his offices in the commercial capital of Abidjan, where the flights would depart from. “That’s my objective. I’m not saying it will be easy but I’m working on it.”
The move would fit with the strategy of Ethiopian, which is pushing to consolidate its lead as the continent’s biggest airline with new hubs and already flies to Ivory Coast and the US. SAA is relying on a government-led recapitalisation to remain in operation and has had two bailouts this year to avoid defaulting on debt. Kenya Airways, almost 27 percent owned by Air France-KLM, has said it’s seeking a US partner to start transatlantic flights.
A direct route to a city such as New York would attract more investors to the West African nation and help Abidjan position itself as a regional hub, Kone said. Ivory Coast’s economy has expanded by an average 9 percent per year since 2012, while President Alassane Ouattara’s government has lured companies including Carrefour SA to the country and initiated several infrastructure projects, including an Abidjan urban railway.
More than 400,000 passengers travel from West Africa, excluding Nigeria, to the US every year, according to Kone. SAA already flies from Accra, the capital of Ghana, to Washington DC while Delta Air Lines Inc. of the US operates a route from the same city to New York.
Separately, Bollore SA of France will this month start work on upgrading the railway linking Abidjan to Kaya, north of Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou, Kone said. The project, estimated to cost $468 million, will renovate about 800 kilometres of track operated by Sitarail, a rail company controlled by Bollore, he said.
The Ivory Coast-Burkina train transports goods between the two West African nations. Landlocked Burkina Faso, Africa’s biggest cotton producer, relies on access to Ivory Coast’s ports for both imports of goods and exports of commodities.
The line is part of Bollore’s project to build West Africa’s biggest railway network linking five countries in
the region.

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