Friday, 6 September, 2002, 13:07 GMT 14:07 UK

New airline for West Africa

A new international airline is to offer flights from the United States to four West African destinations from September.

Afrinat International Airlines will fly from JFK International airport in New York to the Gambia, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Cameroon, and it hopes to add Sierra Leone to the list in the near future.

Afrinat president, Samule Ofori, told the BBC's World Business Report the collapse of Air Afrique has left a big vacuum in air services to the region.

"If you take a look at the market right now everything is booked till November, there is no flight from West Africa at all to the US," he said.

"This has caused them to increase the price to more than reasonable."

Attracting passengers

Afrinat was formed by a group of African businessmen frustrated by the difficult connections and high cost of flying from West Africa to the United States.

Many people travelling from the region are forced to fly via destinations in Europe with airlines like Lufthansa or Air France.

Samule Ofori claims Americans can fly to Russia or China cheaper than they can to West Africa, which is just seven hours from New York.

Afrinat's inaugural flight will depart from JFK International airport on 29 September destined for Banjul in the Gambia.

The airlines' two planes will also fly to Accra in Ghana, Abidjan in the Ivory Coast and Doula in Cameroon.

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