BY ALAN GREEN

In a press release published on Wednesday, the U.S. headquarters of South African Airways located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, announced the launch of new, non-stop service between Accra’s Kotoka International Airport in Ghana and Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. starting on August 3, 2015. With the introduction of this new flight, SAA will be providing the only nonstop flight between Washington D.C. and Ghana, as well as the only Skytrax 4-Star-rated airline service and world-class quality from North America to the entire West Africa region, the communique says, adding that South African Airways also offers convenient connections from over 50 markets in the U.S. and Canada through its airline partners, United Airlines, JetBlues Airways and Virgin America via Washington, Dulles.”

“This is a major development and achievement for the airline as part of our strategic growth on the African continent,” says South African Airways acting CEO Nico Bezuidenhout. “With an expanded presence in West Africa in the form of nonstop services to both Accra and Dakar from Washington D.C.,” he also says, “our customers will soon have access to more destinations in the region.”

The new service will be available four days a week, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, with continuation to Johannesburg. As a result of the new service, South African Airways will reduce its current flights from Dulles to Dakar, Senegal and onwards to Johannesburg to three days a week with operations on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

To mark the occasion, the airline is offering a special introductory fare of $800 round-trip (with restrictions), available for purchase from May 27 to June 26, for travel between August 3 and October 31.

Marc Cavaliere, the company’s executive vice president in North America, stresses the importance of Ghana as a business destination: “Ghana is quickly becoming a strong international business destination in Africa and this new route is going to make travel to the region easier for many travelers from North America. We look forward to welcoming them on board and offering our award-winning service.”