Emirates to Launch Flights to Bamako, Mali

Bamako becomes Emirates’ 28th destination in Africa

Emirates airline will connect Bamako, the capital and largest city of Mali, to its global network from 25th October 2015.

Bamako is one of the fastest growing cities in the world with a population of about 2,3 million people, and is located in the south western part of Mali on the Niger River. Once services commence, it will become Emirates’ 28th destination in Africa and 6th in West Africa, further strengthening the region’s connectivity with the world through the airline’s global network of more than 140 destinations across six continents.

Bamako will be linked to Emirates’ current four times weekly service to Dakar, Senegal, which is operated by an Emirates Airbus A340-300 and offers 12 luxurious seats in First Class, 42 deep reclining seats in Business Class and 213 spacious seats in Economy Class. 

“There is currently no direct service between Dubai and Bamako. Mali has a growing economy and huge tourism potential, and we expect that linking Bamako to our Dakar service will greatly boost both business and leisure travel to and from Mali,” said Adil Al Ghaith, Emirates Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Northern and Western Africa.

“For example, Emirates will now connect Bamako with 24 cities in the Far East and Australasia and 16 in the Middle East, through just one convenient stop at our state of the art hub Dubai. This will reduce travel time and increase comfort when travelling to and from Mali,” he added. 

Mali is one of Africa’s top gold producers, and it also boasts four UNESCO world heritage sites, which are the famous city of Timbuktu, the Old Towns of Djenne, the Tomb of Askia and the Cliff of Bandiagara.

Emirates’ Malian customers can look forward to the airline’s world famous service from its multi-national cabin crew on board all its flights, gourmet cuisine and its award-winning entertainment system ice, which offers hundreds of channels of audio and visual entertainment, including the latest movies, music, as well as audio books and games.  Emirates also offers its customers generous baggage allowance, with 50kg for First Class, 40kg for Business Class and 30kg for Economy Class.  

In addition to passenger services, Emirates Sky Cargo, the airline’s freight division, offers about 13 tons of cargo capacity per flight, which will further support Mali’s exports, such as seed oil, leather, fresh fruit and semi-conductors, and imports of woven fabrics, machinery parts and components, pharmaceutical products and electrical and electronic equipment.

The flight to Bamako will depart Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 0720hrs and arrive in Bamako at 1310hrs. It will then depart Bamako at 1440hrs and arrive in Dakar at 1630hrs. The return flight will depart Dakar at 1800hrs and arrive back in Dubai at 0730hrs the next morning.

Pope Francis visit to lift faith tourism spirit

Come November, Uganda will get into the faith history books for hosting a Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. This year’s papal visit is Uganda’s third by a sitting Pope and second in a generation. Pope John Paul II visited in 1993 and earlier in 1969 Pope Paul VI visited at the canonization of the Uganda Martyrs.

From 27^th to 29^th November this year, Pope Francis, also popularly known as the people’s Pope, will be visiting Uganda. Pope Francis comes at the time the Roman Catholic Church in Uganda is marking the 50th anniversary of the canonization its 22 Martyrs. The Martyrs were among the 45 Christian converts (23 of them Anglican Church members) who were executed in the 19^th century. Francis is expected to visit the Anglican shrine too.

The Papal visit comes on the heels of a record Martyrs Day festival that saw over 3.5 million pilgrims from Uganda, the region and internationally converge on the Namugongo Shrines. Known for his humility and connectedness to the people, Pope Francis’ visit is expected to draw a large number of people to Kampala City, and the Uganda Martyrs Basilica in Namugongo where he will celebrate mass.

And one thing is certain—the profile of faith-based tourism in Uganda will never be the same. Destinations like Jerusalem, Mecca, Rome and Ethiopia have for centuries enjoyed the economic and social benefits of faith tourism.

“Tourism is one of the major drivers of developing economies and faith-based tourism is one of the products we have seen grow in numbers and impact on the Uganda economy,” says Hon. Dr. Maria Mutagamba, the Minister of Tourism, Wildlife & Antiquities.

Last year, the Uganda Tourism Board in partnership with the tour operators developed a Martyrs Trail—a route that takes tourists through the different places the Uganda Martyrs walked before ending up in Namugongo, the final destination of many. It’s a walk many tourists may want to take during and after the Papal visit.

“The Pope’s visit will not only enhance the Catholic faith, but will also socially boost Uganda’s profile as one of the major faith destinations globally. Economically, the visit is expected tobenefit ordinary Ugandans marketing to the pilgrims,” Dr. Mutagamba notes.