Officials of Gambia Bird yesterday met the Gambian leader, His Excellency, Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh at State House in Banjul.

Speaking to reporters shortly afterthe meeting, Karsten Balke, the chief commercial officer Gambia Bird revealed that the visit to the presidency was to brief him on various issues including how they can coordinate their work together with the executive in order to enhance service delivery and as well as brief the head of state on the arrival of their second aircraft.

He said the support and encouragement they receivedfrom government is well appreciated and will add significantly to their service delivery. He disclosedthat they arenowflying to London weekly and areawaitingtraffic rights to begin theLagos route."There are lot of people waiting for a link between Lagos and Monrovia. When you fly from Banjul to Monrovia, you can pick up more passengers in order to go to Lagos. All these routing will be more valuable and Nigeria has been part of our plans from the beginning of our operation in Africa and we are very much confident that we will have full flight quiet soon to Nigeria" he said.

Balke disclosed other approvals for more new routes to other destinations within Africa, while assuring of his company's excellent service delivery and timely performance. He said they have applied for traffic rights in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Ivory Coastand will begin operation in these countries from the 10th of January 2013.

While highlighting the huge business opportunities in the country, the Gambia Bird top official expressed his impression about Gambia's openness."I have seen a lot of people from other countries in The Gambia. So, I think the kind of society we have in The Gambia is an open society where people from other countries are welcomed. We are very impressed with the openness of the people and therefore, the market here is quiet strong. We have lot of business opportunities despite the country been a smaller one within the sub-region.

Everybody is talking good about The Gambia. I have been out in other countries as well and the impression I got from people outside is that The Gambia 'is good'. They acknowledged the impact of The Gambia in the sub-region and I have seen lot of people travelling out of The Gambia but also lot of people bringing in business in The Gambia. Therefore, we are here to provide such businesses" he concluded.