Emirates, a leading international airlines, has announced plans to expand its Africa operations in order to meet the growing air travel needs of travellers in the region.
Currently, the Dubai-based airline, which is a
subsidiary of the Emirates Group, owned by the government of Dubai’s Investment
Corporation of Dubai, which fly to 150 destinations across the globe, also fly
to 21 African countries.
The countries include Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia,
Guinea, Angola, Uganda Nigeria, and South Africa.
Catherine Wesley, Country Manager for Emirates Ghana and
Coted’Ivoire, who disclosed this during a media roundtable to brief journalists
on the operations of the airline, said the Emirates had resorted to full
pre-pandemic passenger network.
“Our African network currently stands at 21 destinations, and
today we operate over 140 weekly flights into the continent. We have redeployed our A380 into
Cairo and Johannesburg with multiple daily services and the easing of travel
restrictions, and the acceleration of passenger demand, we are advancing our
plans to expand our presence across Africa even further,” Ms Wesley said.
On the Ghanaian operations, the Country Manager of Emirates
Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, said “We have restored our daily frequencies to and
from Dubai,” and said the airline on the average flew 8000 passengers from
Ghana to other destinations across the world.
She said the Ghanaian market remained one of the priority
markets for the company, stressing that Emirates offered award-winning services
to customers in all classes of travel and the company had been awarded several
times for its outstanding services both on and off flight.
“I’m working to increase our passenger levels from Ghana to
other destinations to 500 so we can introduce the wide-body plane A380 on the
Dubai to Accra route,” she said.
Ms Wesley noted that Emirates showcased Ghanaian dishes such
as ‘fantefante, sauce and salmon with ‘Kpakpo shito’ onboard flights from
Ghana, adding that passengers could choose from a selection of 13 special meals
to suit their medical, dietary and religious requirements.
Touching on the outlook for the aviation industry in general,
Ms Wesley said the industry would continue to see high demand for travel,
especially leisure and premium leisure travel.
“We need to work collectively as an industry to overcome the
operating challenges, such as staff shortages, fuel price, geopolitical issues
and consumer confidence,” the Country Manager for Emirates Ghana and Cote
d’Ivoire said.
The aforementioned issues, she said were affecting air
travel, movement and profitability of aviation industry.
Ms Wesley said the Emirates’ steady investment in
infrastructure, technology, people and partnerships would continue to give the
company an ability to deliver industry-leading products and value to customers.
Siurce:
Business Ghana