ECAIR - Equatorial Congo Airlines (EQR, Brazzaville) will add a first B787-8 to its fleet during the final quarter of 2015, Kevin Gotene, the head of network planning and scheduling at the Congolese carrier, has said. Gotene told Routes Online in a recent interview that the aircraft will be sourced from its Swiss partner, PrivatAir (Switzerland) (Geneva), which has two B787-8s on order from Boeing (BOE, Washington National).
In line with previously announced plans to develop Brazzaville into a Central African hub, EC AIR has taken delivery of the first of two B737-700s to be used in expanding the airline's regional footprint in Central and West Africa.
The arrival of a first widebody B767-300, HB-JJF (msn 27613), in September will enable it to add capacity on existing long-haul services to Paris CDG and Dubai International while at the same time plan for future routes to China - Guangzhou in particular - and the United States, Gotene concluded.
ECAir intends to operate a total of five long-haul aircraft over the ensuing two to three years.
