African carrier, Fly Punto Azul, is to introduce direct flights from Equatorial Guinea’s capital Malabo to Accra, Ghana. The twice weekly route will commence on January 15, 2014 and will be its second international route following the successful launch of flights to São Tomé and Principe last year. This is the first of a number of new routes planned for 2014 as the regional carrier looks to expand into new markets.

The carrier inaugurated operations in the domestic Malabo – Bata market in June 2013 and currently has a fleet of three 48-seat Embraer ERJ-145s leased from Embraer’s ECC Leasing remarketing business and operated on its behalf by National Airways Corporation (NAC) of South Africa.

In an interview with a Guinea television station to promote the new Accra route, Paul Richards, managing director, Fly Punto Azul, said the route will be flown on a twice weekly basis. “Since the launch of our operations last year, we have sufficiently served the domestic market with the right product, the addition of Accra to our regional destinations marks the first regional route this year with others to follow”, he said.

It is unclear what additional markets the carrier plans to serve during 2014, but in a statement when it launched operations last year it said it planned to add flights to Cameroon and Nigeria in the future. Alongside its scheduled offering, Fly Punto Azul it also specialises in private charters especially for the oil and gas sector in Equatorial Guinea and its environs.

(additional reporting by Michael Otieno - @pmykee143 on Twitter)