Air transport – Air Côte d’Ivoire 10 years of business in review and big ambitions for the future

By Christian Chibueze

Air Côte d’Ivoire organized a press conference on January 25 at the Radisson Hotel, Abidjan to review its activities over the past 10 years and to outline its major ambitions for the future.

The press conference was headed by General Abdoulaye Coulibaly, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Laurent Loukou, Director General and Airbus Vice-President Hadi Akoum.
Speaking on the theme: “The Ivorian national airline today and tomorrow”, the presentation made by the General Manager, Laurent Loukou made it possible to understand the process in which Air Côte d’Ivoire operates today after the difficult period of Covid which slowed down the company’s activities.

Today, Air Côte d’Ivoire is the leader in the West African sub-region, with a very satisfactory balance sheet, which augurs well for the future. It is precisely this satisfaction that emanates from the entire administration of the company, which took an active part in this meeting with the press.

In terms of the mid-term review of the company’s activities on behalf of the AFCON, the Director General said that in terms of shuttle flights, out of 38 scheduled flights, 18 have already been carried out with 100% of the flights executed.

Regarding the preparatory flights for the AFCON, Laurent Loukou explained that the 21 chartered flights are fully carried out. For the group stage flights, all 19 charter flights are fully realized. 98% of the flights are punctual with connections between the cities of Abidjan, Bouaké, Korhogo, and San Pedro.
The press conference also touched on the partnership with the Confederation of African Football on behalf of the Africa Cup of Nations. Air Côte d’Ivoire has become the official carrier of this competition.

In this role, Air Cote d’Ivoire becomes the company of African friendship and fraternity insofar as it has made itself entirely available to all participants.
Laurent Loukou, the Managing Director of Air Côte d’Ivoire expressed his delight at the company’s ambitions for the future by revealing plans to launch direct flights to Morocco and will focus on the next stage of its development, which is the launch of long-haul flights which will be operated in six (6) routes which are Paris, Washington, New York, London, Geneva and Beirut following the acquisition of 3 A 330-900 NEO aircraft currently under construction.
Air Côte d’Ivoire which is certified by IOSA since 2017, projections for the next 10 years (2023-2031), will see the company having 18 aircraft, 35 cities served, 1180 direct jobs, 7080 indirect jobs, 12.55 million passengers and 2449 billion CFA francs in turnover.