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BWI service to West Africa takes flight
Baltimore Business Journal - 11:38 AM EDT Monday
North American Airlines Inc. has begun weekly service from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to West Africa.

Executives with World Air Holdings Inc., North American Airlines' parent company, said Monday the carrier is the only U.S. airline offering scheduled service to Africa.

Flights from BWI, which began Sunday, fly nonstop to Banjul, the capital of Gambia, and Accra, Ghana, which borders the Gulf of Guinea between the Ivory Coast and Togo in western Africa.
North American Airlines also flies from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Accra. North American Airlines recently added a weekly flight out between JFK and Accra on Saturdays.

"We are pleased to provide an important link that many customers want between the Baltimore/Washington metropolitan area and West Africa," said World Air Holdings Inc. President Jeff MacKinney in a statement.

The new service gives a boost to BWI's international traffic, which has lagged in recent years as its domestic business has taken off thanks to the presence of dominant discount carrier Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV).

Nonrefundable round trip tickets from BWI to Banjul start at $773. The weekly flights are scheduled to leave Baltimore Sunday evenings at 11:55 p.m. and arrive in Banjul on Monday at 12:15 p.m. then land later that day in Accra at 4:30 p.m.

Flights headed to Baltimore will depart Banjul on Sunday at 4:15 p.m. They are scheduled to reach BWI on Sunday at 8:45 p.m.

At a press conference in April announcing the new service, Lt. Gov. Michael Steele said the flights would foster economic opportunities for Maryland in West Africa. More than 200,000 West African natives live in the Baltimore/Washington metro area, Steele said.

The new service will make a $20 million economic impact on the state, officials project.

BWI Executive Director Timothy Campbell said the Maryland Aviation Administration had been working for months to add North American to BWI's roster.