South African Airways (SAA) started its new route between Johannesburg and Washington DC via Accra, Ghana, on Sunday. The inaugural flight carried Ghanaian Transportation Minister Dzifa Aku Attivor, as well as other dignitaries, on the Accra-Washington leg and was greeted as it taxiied in at Washington Dulles International Airport by a ceremonial waterspray.

“Introducing more travel options on the African continent is a major development and achievement for the airline as part of our Long-Term Turnaround Strategy, which sets growth on the African continent as one of our key objectives,” stated SAA executive: Africa hub projects Kendy Phohleli. “SAA’s decision to route some of its North American bound flights to Ghana, is based on sound business principles as there is considerable demand for passengers wanting to fly between Ghana to [sic] the USA. We anticipate that this route will add considerable opportunities for the growth of tourism and trade relations between Ghana and the United States of America.”

The flights from Johannesburg to Washington via Accra will be flown on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with the return flights on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. In addition, every Saturday there will be a flight between Johannesburg and Accra, with the return flight departing late that same day. There will also be three flights a week from Johannesburg to Abidjan (in the Côte d’Ivoire) via Accra, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, with the return flights leaving late the same days.

The route to Washington via Accra will be flown by SAA’s four-engined Airbus A340-600 airliners. These are configured with 42 premium business class seats (capable of becoming fully lie-flat beds) and 275 economy class seats. Three of the already existing weekly flights to Washington via Dakar, Senegal, will continue.

As part of the creation of the new route, SAA entered into a commercial cooperation agreement with Ghanaian carrier Africa World Airlines (AWA). As a result, SAA can offer connections to elsewhere in Ghana and West Africa while AWA can offer connections to Johannesburg, Washington and Abidjan. Phohleli described this deal as being “of a long-term strategic nature”.

“True to our promise of improving connectivity on the continent, the agreement with Africa World Airlines will offer SAA customers from Washington and Johannesburg seamless connectivity via Accra to other destinations in Ghana such as Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale as well as to Lagos, Nigeria,” he affirmed. “Forming a local partnership with a domestic airline was part of our plans of [sic] strengthening SAA’s presence in West Africa.”