Brussels Airlines is optimistic patronage of its flights to Ghana will see an increase. This follows the successful resumption of operations yesterday after the airline halted operations to Accra in 2012.
The company is confident the current market conditions in the aviation industry in particular, presents a fine opportunity for success.
Speaking at a press conference, the elated Vice President of Sales Africa Cargo Phillipe Saeys-Desmedt said Brussels Airline is happy to celebrate new Brussels-Accra-Brussels connection and is going to fly 4 times a week for the time being.
He said the flight on the 26th of October was a great success because out of the 286 seats on the aircraft, there were only 6 seats left, in business class.
The airline which operated the Accra route from 2009 until late 2012 halted its operations following a ‘group decision’ to allow Lufthansa to grow further in Accra so that Brussels Airlines could also grow further in the East.
“This has now been reversed and Lufthansa is now going to the East and we are going to grow further here in Accra” he explained.
According to Mr. Saeys-Desmedt, the airline has grown its fleet hence will be flying more frequently within the African network with the expectation to increase the fleet to about 10 in the shortest possible time.
The company however, has a global fleet of 54.
“If you look at the transport sector, the number of passengers travelling, this market still shows positive figures. There has been a 7 percent increase in the number of passengers flying out of Accra and you don’t see a reduction in the number of passengers but rather an increase and as we are going to fly four times every week, we will have a share of this increasing number of passengers,” he stressed.
Mr. Saeys-Desmedt is assured the African market still has room for a lot more airlines saying “the economy in Africa is much better than it used to be a few years ago, especially Ghana’s aviation sector. This we believe will bring us the results that we are expecting.”
He added that although there has been a reduction in traffic, in some other African countries Ghana has seen some significant increase.
Source: myjoyonline