Air Volta: International and Interior Timetable

Fada N'Gourma, Gorom Gorom, Diapaga, Bogandé, Pama, Sebba, Dori. Not the sort of names that autofill on Kayak.com everyday. But this was the network of the dancing Chi-Wara, shown in this vintage Air Volta horaire. The more unfamiliar names occur on the Lignes Interieures at right, where the center of the card shows the schedule of the mainline Ouagadougou-Bobo Dioulasso-Bouake- Bamako-Lomé-Cotonou service.

Haute Volta is today Burkina Faso, of course, and Air Volta today has been succeeded by Grupo Celestair's Air Burkina.

Departures from Abidjan Port-Bouet Airport, 23 April 2013

The daily block of departures from Abidjan's Felix Houphouët-Boigny/Port Bouet International Airport on 23 April 2013 reveals a slate of recent developments in tropical African aviation. Especially new local entrant Air Côte D'Ivoire, recently risen from the ashes of the older Air Ivoire, providing three flights across the francophone region. Its first flight were in December 2012 and this post marks its first appearance on Timetablist.

Another is the young Senegal Airlines, similarly a quick replacement for defunct Air Senegal International, which in this case is heading eastward to other French-speaking centers in Togo and Cameroon. Lastly, Mauritania Airlines International, set up in 2010 to replace defunct Mauritania Airways (which was itself a second-try at the failed Air Mauritanie), is heading back to its capital, Nouakchott, via Bamako, Mali.

Regional growth carrier ASKY has two flights: to its hub at Lomé and to Conakry, while Air Burkina, one of the few West African airlines that has lasted more than a few years, links Burkina Faso's secondary city, Bobo Dioulasso.

Non-regional airlines make an appearance, providing the only links with non-French-speaking cities: Emirates offers the only wide-body on the day's schedule, its quad-engined A340s hopping next door to Accra before heading home to Dubai; Ethiopian Airlines ET916 is a next-gen B737 that stops in Cotonou before returning to its base at Addis Ababa's Bole Airport after a long journey from one side of the continent to the other.

Air Burkina Network, c. 2002

An Air Burkina advertisement for Togo, from about a decade ago, which is dominated by the profiles of a man and woman who may be intended to portray customers, or perhaps the old pilot-and-stewardess duo, but whose body language is too stiff to suggest any familiarity.

Behind them rises the tail of an unknown jet with a strange, double-waterfowl emblem which is not associated with Air Burkina. The airline's own very  memorable branding is tabbed at top-left, showing the shadowed Chi-Wara style emblem.

More helpfully to the right is a route map, showing a spread of flights out of Ouagadougou as far as Paris, which is constrained by layout to be positioned southwest of Sardinia in relation to the rest of the map. The sole domestic hop to Bobo-Dioulasso is shown, and it is notable that not one Anglophone city is served. An address for a local ticketing agent fills the void between the two visual groups.

Accra Airport, Monday Departures, November 2011

The flight schedule for Accra's Kotoka International Airport from the Ghana Airports Authority for a typical Monday in November 2011 shows 20 departures in a 12 hour period. High-frequency routes for West Africa are those that depart more than once a day, and in this case hops from Accra to Abidjan, Abuja, Monrovia, and above all Lagos make the list, served by regional airlines such as Arik Air and Air Ivoire as well as global carriers looping the two cities into one flight schedule, such as United, Emirates and Egyptair, which turns around for Cairo in the early afternoon.

Other West African connections include Air Burkina to Ouagadougou, ASKY to Freetown, Lomé, and Banjul. At ten minutes to nine, a Virgin Atlantic A340 leaves for London Heathrow; a Delta B767-300 departs for New York JFK fifty minutes later.

The following post continues the analysis of this timetable. 

Accra Kotoka International Airport Departure Board, November 12, 2011

The midday line-up of flights out of Kotoka Airport in Accra, Ghana on Sunday, 12 November 2011.

The roster is mostly regional, with Air Nigeria departing for Monrovia (with a later link to Lagos), followed by ASKY quickly jumping to its main base at Lomé (also hopping to Abidjan several hours later). Kenya Airways, on a continuation of its Nairobi service, also flies to Robertsfield, Kotoka's third-busiest bridge, while Arik Air is the other airline to land at Lagos from Accra (the busiest route from Accra and in all of West Africa). Air Burkina has an evening flight northward to Ouagadougou.

The remaining flights stretch beyond the immediate subregion: Egyptair to Cairo and MEA's evening flight to Beirut are testament to the important commercial links to the Near East, while Emirates continuation of its Dubai-Accra service flows on to Abidjan at five minutes to 2PM.

At the noon hour, an Ethiopian Airlines departure for Addis Ababa is proceeded by United Airlines transatlantic run to Washington Dulles - the airline's first African destination, which started in 2010 and sadly is scheduled to end next month.

Air Burkina: Systemwide Network, c.2004

Further post-Air Afrique aviation: with special complements to the website Developpement Felix Mayer is this colorful Carte of Air Burkina's Reseau, which the fantastic site Timetable Images suggest was issued around mid-2004. The airline's pride of system was undoubtedly the Paris route; the Lomé to Cotonou flight must be a short hop. Note that not a single Anglophone destination is served.