Lomé-based Airlines Asky should, starting from July 2016, start serving New-York, USA, three times a week. This will be possible with the support of its strategic partner and majority shareholder Ethiopian Airlines which, as needed, will make available one of its big Boeing 787.

The firm added that its Boeing 737-800, it announced a few months back, will soon be operational and fly the Lome-Dakar line initially.

Asky thus joins the closed club of African companies that can fly their customers to the United States. Among these are Kenya Airways, Royal Air Maroc, South African Airways, Egypt Air, or Arik Air. In addition to these, there are offers of companies like Air France, Turkish Airways, Emirates and British Airways.

In its direct markets, knwoingly Central and West Africa, Asky will be competing only with Royal Air Maroc, Air France, Brussels Turkish Airlines or Arik Air, who offer flights to USA with a stopover. However, the company has the time advantage. Truly, it will be easier to fly New-York-Lome via Chad, Central African Republic or Cameroon than via Istanbul. What is left to know now is the cost of travel.

Idriss Linge