Air France discovers Banjul for the first time, returns to Cape Town
On Monday 1 November, Air France i naugurated its new seasonal route between Paris and Banjul with an extension to Bamako in Mali. The route will now be operated every day of the week except Thursday and Saturday. On this route, the French flag will deploy its Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, which can accommodate 40 passengers in Business Class, 24 in Premium and 216 in Economy.
This is the second new service in Africa this winter for the SkyTeam alliance airline, after Zanzibar (as an extension of Nairobi) inaugurated on 18 October.
Between Paris and Banjul, Air France will be in indirect competition with Turkish Airlines (via Istanbul and Dakar), Vueling (via Barcelona), Royal Air Maroc (via Casablanca), Brussels Airlines (via Brussels and Dakar) and Air Senegal (via Dakar).
The day before, yesterday 31 October, the French airline also re-launched its direct route between Paris and Cape Town in South Africa, a route that had been closed since the beginning of the health crisis. Air France has no competition on this route, which it operates three times a week with its 787-9 Dreamliner. Its flights to Mahé in the Seychelles (twice a week) have also resumed since 23 October.
As part of its winter schedule, Air France will also extend its summer routes to Africa until March 2022, in particular those to Tangiers (Morocco) and Djerba (Tunisia). "This flight schedule is likely to change depending on travel restrictions," it warns. Its service to Maputo, announced for 20 June, has finally been postponed to an indefinite date.
