VISTAJET
International, the world’s luxury aviation company, for the first time, landed
one of its Global aircrafts in Ghana’s second capital city, Kumasi.
Company
officials say the London-Kumasi flight on Sunday was to introduce its
operations to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, whilst seeking the King’s
blessings to begin an Africa tour.
“The
whole reason why we bring a $55million asset to Kumasi is that we really saw
over the last year a real willingness and cooperation from the Ashanti King and
we wanted Kumasi to be the gateway and the door opening to our trip and this
leg of our tour. So effectively, with his blessing, we can now go into the rest
of Africa”, stated Wynton Faure, Senior Vice President, Africa Program Sales.
VISTAJET’s
multi-leg tour will start from Accra to Abuja, Lagos and further down the
African continent, as the company doubles its sales force across emerging
markets to establish further presence and support for existing and new
customers.
VISTAJET
is the only company in the world to bring brand new business jets to the African
continent, said Mr. Faure.
He
told Luv Biz Report the company is offering European safety and reliability in its
chartered service and other unique flight solutions to clients from various
backgrounds, including the oil and gas services sector, telecommunications,
media, logistics and government.
He
observed a massive potential in West Africa for a “dependable, reliable and
safe business jet solution”, hence the decision to bring its services to Ghana,
after operating close to five years in Nigeria.
Wynton
Faure is hopeful the company’s operations would facilitate investment flows to
Ghana and the West African region.
“A
lot of business is being done in Ghana; there is a lot of foreign trade and
investment flooding into the country, so we’re at the vanguard of a trend”, he said.
VISTAJET
was founded in 2004 with its headquarters in Switzerland. The company currently
operates a fleet of 33 Bombardier business jets on four continents – Europe,
Africa, Middle East and North America.
The
company has placed a firm order for the delivery of 56 new Bombardier Global aircrafts
to fill its delivery schedule for the next six years.
With
a list price value of more than $7.8 billion, this is the single largest
transaction placed with any aircraft manufacturer in the history of business
aviation. Deliveries of this order will commence in 2014.
The
new aircraft will directly service growth markets – including Russia, China,
all of the Middle East and all of Africa – connecting them to the rest of the
globe, as well as serving the East and West coast United States for their
intercontinental travel needs.
Thomas
Flohr, Founder and Chairman of VISTAJET, in a statement said “this order is the most significant
milestone for VISTAJET
and is a
testimony to our successful strategy that focuses on global coverage”.
“Carrying 25,000 passengers on 10,000 single international flights in 2012, VISTAJET is the only luxury brand in
aviation, which focuses on providing an understated and bespoke service”, he
added.
Story by
Kofi Adu Domfeh
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