Weekly Service to Connect Baltimore Airport to West Africa

LINTHICUM - Starting June 4, North American Airlines will provide weekly service to West Africa from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Jets will fly nonstop to Banjul, The Gambia, and continue to Accra, Ghana, state officials announced yesterday.

"This new international air service will foster new economic opportunities and advance the exchange of goods, services and ideas between the state of Maryland and the countries of West Africa," said Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who traveled to Africa with Maryland business executives in 2004.

North American Airlines will operate one weekly flight from BWI to Banjul, continuing to Accra, using Boeing 767-300ER aircraft, which seat about 270 people.

The flight to Africa takes about 7 1/2 hours, and the return flight is about an hour longer, airport spokesman Jonathan Dean said.

Primarily a charter airline, New York-based North American Airlines offers commercial service to Guyana, in South America, as well as to Ghana, from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

North American's commercial service centers on "niche markets that are probably not large enough for a scheduled carrier but still have substantial traffic," said Steve Forsyth, a spokesman for the airline.

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