SAA launches direct flight from Accra to US

The flights from Accra to Washington DC will be offered four times a week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The Washington-Accra flight will be the only nonstop flight between Washington DC and Ghana.

Dzifa Attivor, Ghana's Minister of Transport, said it was a manifestation of the dream of past African leaders to bring Africans together. It was also in line with government's policy objective of making Ghana the aviation hub in the West African Sub region.

The essence, she said, was to ensure an easy and flexible travel opportunity to customers and gave the assurance that Ghana will continue to provide an enabling environment for the operation of air travel for all airline operators.

John Thambi, a representative of SAA, said: "SAA's decision to route some of its North American-bound flights to Ghana was based on sound business principles, as there was considerable demand for passengers to fly from Ghana to the US." He said the airline had the best safety record on the continent and the new flight was the beginning of the efforts to interconnect African countries to make flights in Africa more flexible.

Thambi said the flight, through the operations of the SAA would not only help its passengers to get direct transport to America but also create employment and share expertise to help its counterparts, the African World Airlines, to become one of the best airline operators.

He added that it would help create further economic cooperation for the benefit of the two countries. He thanked the government of Ghana for the opportunity to fly SAA from Accra to Washington DC.

The South African High Commissioner to Ghana, Lulama Xingwana, Nii Kpobi Tetteh Tsru - the La Mantse, Hannah Tetteh - Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Nana Oye Lithur, Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister as well as Samuel Osei
Kuffour, former Black Stars player, were also in attendance.