Air France has announced the resumption of its service to Freetown in Sierra Leone, following a period of cancellation after the airline took a recommendation from the French government over concern about the outbreak of Ebola in the country.
The French national airline will resume the service with three weekly frequencies from Paris Charles de Gaulle, operated by Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
The service leaves Paris Charles de Gaulle at 11:10am, and arrives in Freetown at 15:50pm the same day. The return flight departs Freetown at 17:20pm, arriving back into the French capital at 05:40am the next day. Flights will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The airline is confirming its position as a partner airline of the African continent and is supporting Sierra Leone in it economic development. Sierra Leone has a strong mining activity and is among the top ten diamond producers in the world.
The French government initially urged citizens to leave Sierra Leone and Liberia at the height of the outbreak of the disease, though requested that Air France continue flight to both Guinea and Nigeria.
Although the International Civil Organisation, the United Nation’s safety arm, said that risk to passengers from becoming infected on flights was low – Air France temporarily suspended its flights to Sierra Leone to safeguard its customers.
Air France continued its daily services to Conakry, Guinea and Lagos in Nigeria which were also hit by the disease.
Air France-KLM currently flies to 54 destinations on the African continent. The Group is also developing agreements with several African airlines including Kenya Airways, TAAG Angola Airlines, Air Côte d’Ivoire, kulula.com, and Comair, offering its customers on the continent up to 20 additional destinations.
Meanwhile, the airline has recently begun the inauguration of its new medium-haul cabins on board its fleet of Airbus A319 aircraft, and will begin fitting out its 25 Airbus A320s at the beginning of next year, including the aircraft which operate some of its flights to African destinations.
The flag carrier for France has paid special attention to its passengers travelling for professional reasons and has introduced a new “Economy Flex” fare.
"We need to be offensive to win the battle on medium-haul routes. With these new cabins, we aim to be among the best in the world. Winning the preference of each customer on departure from Europe is now a strategic priority of our Perform 2020 plan” said Frédéric Gagey, Chairman and CEO of Air France.
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