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The Gabonese authorities have just launched discussions with international partners for the setting up, once again, of a national airline company. Although since the liquidation of Air Gabon in 2005, all attempts of this kind have failed.
Based in Jeddah, the Saudi group Nexus Aero International looks set to do business with Gabon. A delegation led by its president and CEO was received, Friday, July 13 in Libreville, by the Minister of Transport and Logistics of the country.
At the end of negotiations, Libreville wishes to have a new airline, after the liquidation in 2005 of the former Air Gabon. Created in 1977 with a capital of 6.5 billion CFA francs (10 million dollars) following the exit of the country from the former multinational airline company Air Afrique, Air Gabon had never recovered profits since 1994, and had to cease its activities in June 2006 following several cancellations of flights and an opaque management.
After its failure and the failed bet for a few years of the private company Gabon Airlines, the Gabonese authorities had also tried to to combine with Ethiopian Airlines, then Air Senegal International (also in difficulty at the time) to build a company. And then came the idea of creating Air Cemac which would serve the Central African subregion; but the States of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) have instead chosen to compose individually.
In addition, this new initiative comes 12 years after the signing of a shareholders' pact between the Royal Air Group Morocco and the Gabonese state, aiming to make Air Gabon, a new company called Air Gabon International. Only this partnership project failed to materialize. At issue: opposing economic views between the two parties
In 2006, the Royal Air Maroc (RAM) Air Group announced the creation of Air Gabon International, of which it will hold a majority stake as part of its expansion efforts in Africa. At the time, the aging Air Gabon fleet had been reduced to two aircraft, Boeing 767-200 and 737-200 remained grounded for engine problems.
Official source cross-checked, Air Gabon had accumulated a heavy debt estimated at 50 billion CFA francs, and was struggling to pay the salaries of its 1,100 employees with a monthly payroll estimated at 600 million CFA francs for local staff.
It is recalled that in 2004, his management had refocused the flight plan on the west coast of Africa before removing some services deemed unprofitable like the Libreville-Dubai link, which is very popular with West African traders.
By Antoine Lawson
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