At the start of the winter flight schedules, Lufthansa is to begin serving a new destination in Africa. From 3 November, the airline is laying on five flights weekly to Pointe Noire, the principal port in the Republic of the Congo, pending regulatory approval. The route will be flown by a Boeing 737-800 from PrivatAir. The flights to the Congolese port include a stopover in Libreville in Gabon. In future, Libreville will thus be served non-stop and not, as previously, with a stopover in Accra, Ghana.
“The new flight to Pointe Noire is a further step forward in our growth strategy in Africa,“ noted Karl-Ulrich Garnadt, Executive Vice President Services and Human Resources at Lufthansa Passenger Airlines. “The dynamic, economic region in West and Central Africa is a key area in the development of the Lufthansa route network.“ Lufthansa currently serves West Africa with a total of 33 weekly connections to Abuja, Accra, Lagos, Libreville, Luanda, Malabo and Port Harcourt. The services offered to the region by the Lufthansa Group are augmented by flights to a further twelve destinations in the region operated by SWISS and Brussels Airlines.
The port of Pointe Noire, the major commercial centre of the Republic of the Congo, is home to nearly 700,000 of the Country’s total population of around four million people. The oil industry, a key factor in the economy of the West African Republic, accounts for about 90 per cent of export earnings. Economic growth in 2010 is expected to be around ten per cent.
Passengers on board PrivatAir flights will enjoy all the benefits of the Lufthansa long-haul product. Among the perks in Business Class is a highly topical in-flight entertainment programme, as well as delicious in-flight menus created by Star Chefs and an array of opportunities to continue working in the aircraft cabin. In the sleeping mode, the seats fold out almost horizontally into a bed all of two metres long. Economy Class is not without comforts, either: With the small number of seats, passengers are sure of very personal attention from the cabin crew. Moreover, all seats are equipped with in-seat videos, ergonomically designed backrests and additional legroom.
