Lufthansa to begin flying into Pointe Noire in Central Africa

Beginning November 3 and pending regulatory approval, Lufthansa will begin flying five flights weekly to Pointe Noire in Central Africa. Pointe Noire is the principal port in the Republic of the Congo. Libreville will thus be served non-stop and not, as previously, with a stopover in Accra, Ghana. The flights to the Congolese port include a stopover in Libreville in Gabon and will be flown by a Boeing 737-800 from PrivatAir.

“The new flight to Pointe Noire is a further step forward in our growth strategy in Africa,“ noted Karl-Ulrich Garnadt, executive vice president of services and human resources at Lufthansa Passenger Airlines. “The dynamic, economic region in West and Central Africa is a key area in the development of the Lufthansa route network.“ Lufthansa currently serves West Africa with a total of 33 weekly connections to Abuja, Accra, Lagos, Libreville, Luanda, Malabo, and Port Harcourt. The services offered to the region by the Lufthansa Group are augmented by flights to a further twelve destinations in the region operated by SWISS and Brussels Airlines.

The port of Pointe Noire, the major commercial center of the Republic of the Congo, is home to nearly 700,000 of the country’s total population of around four million people. The oil industry, a key factor in the economy of the West African Republic, accounts for about 90 percent of export earnings. Economic growth in 2010 is expected to be around ten percent.

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