Dubai-based flydubai has announced the start of flights to Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The daily flights, beginning on April 15th, will operate with an en-route stop in nearby Entebbe and will also be available for booking through the Emirates codeshare agreement.
flydubai becomes the first UAE carrier to operate flights to N’djili Airport (also known as Kinshasa International Airport) and provide links from the UAE and the region to a new gateway in Central Africa.
Commenting on the launch, Ghaith Al Ghaith, chief executive of flydubai, said: “Africa is fast emerging as one of the most important markets for the United Arab Emirates and we have seen the trade relationship going from strength to strength in recent years.
“With the proximity to the continent and rising demand to more direct links to Africa, we see this new service to Kinshasa playing an instrumental role in further supporting the growing trade and tourism flows in the coming years.”
Kinshasa is one of the largest cities in Africa and a busy hub providing extensive connections to cities across the African continent and intercontinental services to Europe.
The country is known for its vast natural resource wealth; it is the world’s largest producer of cobalt and a major producer of copper and diamonds.
Since the start of its operations in 2009, flydubai has built up a comprehensive network in Africa with flights to Addis Ababa, Alexandria, Asmara, Djibouti, Entebbe, Hargeisa, Juba, Khartoum and Port Sudan, as well as Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar.