Air Burkina C.E.O Mr. Blaise Sanou has on Wednesday, April 27th 2022 been dismissed with immediate effect by the Council of Ministers of the government of Burkina Faso after five years at the helm.
The decision was motivated by the communication of the Minister of Transport Mahamoudou Zampaligre, who returned to the incident on Sunday April 24th, during which a fire broke out on one of the engines of the Embraer ERJ195 (XT – ABV MSN 19000067) who had just completed a technical test on the tarmac at Ouagadougou Airport, and was about to be lined up for a flight to Dakar. Following the Minister’s Intervention, the council took note of the difficulties and serious shortcomings linked to the Burkinabe National Company, and took the decision to relieve the Director General of the airline of his duties with immediate effect according to the government spokesman, Lionel Bilgo. According to the spokesman, the Minister of Transport should very soon engage in National Flag Audits.
Blaise Sanou already knew he was in the hot seat. In the aftermath of the Embraer ERJ195 incident, Minister Zampaligre had in fact given instructions for the investigations to be carried out immediately to determine the origin and the reasons for the breakdown of the Aircraft. In the process, he initiated the establishment of a technical committee which would very soon have to propose an adequate roadmap which can enable the state to ensure the re-launch of the national fleet.
Since his appointment as the head of Air Burkina Faso on May 11th 2017, the former colonel Major of the Burkinabe Air force had struggled to rollout a real restructuring plan intended to improve the air carrier’s financial indicators. He was neither helped by the health crisis, which since 2020 has been helping to weigh down the carrier’s finances, leading to aggravation of salary arrears and supplier debts.
Although one of the oldest companies on the continent is still active, Air Burkina, created in 1967, has remained a loss-making carrier, over-indebted and has become a burden on the public treasury. With the recent incident, the company was amputated from its last plane still active. Indeed, these two other Embraers an ERJ195 and an ERJ175, have been under maintenance for months in Kenya Airways workshop in Nairobi. All the three Aircraft owned by an Irish lessor – Nordic Aviation Capital had been introduced in 2018 and 2019.
In search of a new lease of life, the Burkinabe state signed, on October 20th 2020, a partnership agreement with African Global Development (AGD) with a view to its partial privatization. But since then, the process has stalled. In March 2021, the Boss of the American Group – whose credibility arouses curiosity – was in Ouagadougou for the presentation of his five- year plan, the outlines of which have not been revealed. But already, AGD when signing the agreement promised to inject 250 Billion FCFA (452 million USD) into the capital of Air Burkina Faso, for the acquisition of 12 planes – including Airbus aircraft, the launch of routes to Europe, and the opening of an aircraft maintenance center in Ouagadougou all aimed at rejuvenating Air Burkina.
