Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Emirates resumes services to Abidjan

Emirates Airline on Monday confirmed that it will resume its flights to and from Abidjan in Ivory Coast on May 12 after the service was suspended amid conflict in the country.
The Dubai-based carrier also said in a statement it has reopened its Abidjan town office.
Emirates will operate daily to Abidjan via Accra, Ghana. Flights to Abidjan will be served by an Airbus A340-300 aircraft.
Emirates currently serves 19 passenger and cargo destinations across the African continent.
The resumption of flights follows Ivory Coast president Alassane Ouattara taking an oath of office last week as authorities of the Western African country try to turn the page on the months-long civil conflict that followed a contested election.
Ouattara and ousted leader Laurent Gbagbo were engaged in an armed conflict after the latter refused to relinquish his president's post following his loss in the November election.
Gbagbo was put under house arrest after he was pulled from a basement bunker at his residence on April 11.
Life is slowly returning to normal in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's commercial hub. Banks have reopened for business and cocoa export companies are girded to resume trade, though many complain about racketeering.
Officials have had to deal with sporadic uprisings in recent weeks. On Friday, the United Nations dispatched investigators to inspect the site of alleged massacres in one Abidjan district.