The government of the Ivory Coast is looking at securing non-stop connectivity to the United States from early 2018 as one of several measures aimed at attracting more foreign investment.
Speaking to Bloomberg, the country's transport minister Amadou Kone has said that the government is in advanced talks with Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa International) and also considering Kenya Airways (KQ, Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta) and South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) as alternative options.
According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Abidjan is the fourth largest airport in West Africa by seat capacity, trailing Lagos, Abuja and Accra.
Ethiopian currently already serves Los Angeles International (via Dublin International), New York Newark (via Lomé), Toronto Pearson and Washington Dulles (both via Dublin International on the outbound flights only) in North America from its Addis Ababa hub. Meanwhile, SAA currently operates a daily non-stop Johannesburg-New York JFK service and to Washington Dulles via both Dakar Yoff-Léopold Sédar Senghor International (three times weekly) and Accra (four times weekly). Kenya Airways has yet to commence its own US services after securing a US foreign aircraft carrier permit in September of this year.
