Air France keeps an eye on local capacity needs

AIR FRANCE Cargo is spreading its wings into Africa, although there are no immediate plans for any of its dedicated fleet of freighters to be utilised on flights to southern Africa.
A twelfth B747-200 freighter will be joining the fleet in September, but this will meet seasonal demands on routes to and from the Americas and Asia.
Currently the cargo sector operates two weekly flights to Douala in its African service on a capacity sharing basis with Cameroon Airlines. A weekly service is ofered to Bangui, Brazzaville, Niamey and Ouagadougou. These are handled by City Bird on behalf of Air France Cargo using an Airbus A300-600F.
While there is a growing demand for space from Johannesburg for all flights northward in the export market, the airline, according to a locally based spokesman, has decided to continue with the utilisation of available space on its normal passenger services to and from Paris.
Heavy loads on Middle and Far East flights have called for additional services to those destinations, with the Americas also seeing increased flights in the latest cargo schedules. But, says the spokesman, close observation is being kept on the southern African scene and should imports begin to strengthen southbound cargo space demands, the possibility of freighter flights to this part of the continent will be considered in the future.