Air Côte d'Ivoire Planning Paris Flights Soon

Intro

In the past few days, I have touched upon the revival of Somali Airlines and the London-bound flights that Air Sierra Leone flies. However, for this article, I wanted to touch upon Air Côte d'Ivoire, as this is a carrier that seems to be going all in on a premium-heavy product.

A Brand New A330-900Neo

In the following days, Air Côte d'Ivoire plans to take delivery of the first of their two A330-900Neos. While we aren't sure exactly the seat count as of now, it looks like there will be four First Class seats, upwards of 30 business class seats, 3-4 rows of premium economy, and the rest in economy.

The new Air Côte d'Ivoire First Class suite is more like a "business plus". Sort of reminds me of MH here.

Well, it seems that there will be no short-haul crew familiarization routes, and the plane will jump straight into long-haul service as of September 18th. As of the 18th, Air Côte d'Ivoire will operate daily flights to Paris with the following schedule:

HF176: Abidjan-Paris departing at 14:30 and arriving at 23:00

HF177: Paris-Abidjan departing at 8:00 and arriving at 12:30

It's interesting to see how long the plane spends on the ground at CDG, as I would have presumed one of the legs would have been a redeye as well to increase aircraft utilization. I imagine this is for good reason, and probably due to connections.

One would presume that since AF operates a 2 pm and 6 pm departure, Air Côte d'Ivoire might be able to compete with the earlier timeslots.

Will This Route Succeed?

There is no doubt that the Paris-Abidjan route is a 'premium market', with Air France serving their infamous "La Premiere" product on this route. However, with the likes of a double daily flight from Air France, and Corsair serving Paris Orly 9-10 weekly, this is going to be tough for Air Côte d'Ivoire.

Unlike New York and Singapore, Air France serves their old "La Premiere" product

However, I think Air Côte d'Ivoire might have somewhat of a slight edge going on here. For starters, they have more connecting traffic, albeit very small. For example, I flew them from Lagos to Abidjan and eventually onward to Dakar. Secondly, I do think that the airline will somewhat undercut fares, and with a much better hard product (featuring Bluetooth, high defintion screens, and more), my opinion comes down to this: it is all about how they lay the framework. Every single flight from now on has to have exceptional crew, good presentation, and can't cut corners. If they are able to do this, I could see this route working out. Highly profitable? Not so sure...

It was a very good flight onboard Air Côte d'Ivoire especially on their Neo...

Final Thoughts

Air Côte d'Ivoire is set to take delivery of its very first A330-900Neo in the following days, and with that, has come the scheduling of a brand new route to Paris. With Air France serving this route double daily, and Corsair 9-10 weekly, it seems that Air Côte d'Ivoire is trying to go toe-to-toe with this daily service. I truly hope this works out, not only as a consumer, but I am starting to see a trend of African carriers exploring more into regions, and with how hospitable the entire continent is, I would rather take Air Côte d'Ivoire over Air France.