<strong>Air France Suspends operations in Sierra Leone</strong>

By Mustapha Dumbuya

Air France a renowned air taxi that has been operating in Sierra Leone   to France has suspended operation. Edgard D. Lacle the Commercial Manger of Air France African Solution and Logistics Limited in exclusive interview confirmed to public review that Air France had suspended operations in Sierra Leone.

According to him, Air France had been suspended it operations since June this year (2023)  as the Company has failed to meet its target  due to low turnout  numbers of passengers. The Manager stated that they are running the company as business which in turn they had to look for profit and loses bases. “If the charges of operations levied against our company are so high it is our right to suspend or stop operations if the need arise” the manager said.

Mr. Lacle pointed that they are operating under the canopy of the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation and hoping that they will intervene and solve the problem before they could resume operation. In Sierra Leone, there are several passengers who choose to travel from our neighboring country Conakry to Europe or the US – and a lot more to Australia and South America on bases of ticket cost.

Amadu Tejan Jalloh, a regular passenger  and a business man who always travelling from sierra Leone to China and United Arab Emirate (Dubai) argued that it better he took off from Conakry to those countries or any European country due to ticket price. “We cannot compare Sierra Leone and Guinea because Guinea is far away better than Sierra Leone when look at the cost of ticket and they tax levied on us as passengers in Sierra Leone,”  he explained. He went further to narrate that government should have do the needful by reducing or removing the 25 dollars tax imposes to passengers by the Sierra Leone Government. He said that it preferable for passengers to rather travel to Guinea by road or boat and fly from Conakry to other countries.  

The Chief Minister of Sierra Leone, David Sengeh commented on his twitter on the action/ decision of Air France. He wrote: “Had a good call with Air France Fr GM West Africa to understand the decision to suspend some routes in the region (Freetown and Banjul) starting this winter, long-term impact of Covid, flight availability, and volume of travelers were discussed. We thank AF and remain ready to welcome them again.”