While tensions are very high between Mali and France, Air France sold the bear’s skin a little too quickly at the start of the week. The junta in fact forced the airline on Wednesday to review its plan to resume service to Bamako, suspended for two months.
After having announced on Tuesday that it would resume its service between Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and Modibo-Keïta airports on Friday through a third party company, Air France indicated that the resumption was “postponed until further notice”. order” following “additional requests from the Malian authorities”.
Dismissal of the director of civil aviation
The Malian Ministry of Transport explained in a press release that this request for resumption was being examined by the national aeronautical authorities and that “Air France flights remain suspended during this examination procedure”.
What happened between Tuesday and Wednesday has not been publicly exposed. But two Malian officials and an air transport player speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to undermine official communication suggested that an agreement may have been delivered initially without all interested parties within of the junta have not been consulted or informed. The director of civil aviation in Mali was even fired, according to a senior Malian official, without saying exactly what he was accused of.
Air France suspended its flights to Mali (seven per week) and Burkina Faso (five per week) on August 7 after the closure of the airspace of neighboring Niger, the scene of a coup d’état on July 26. . The company cited the geopolitical situation in the Sahel. The region is in fact prey to jihadism and has experienced a succession of military coups, in Mali in 2020 and 2021, in Burkina Faso in 2022 and in Niger in 2023.
The Malian junta canceled Air France’s authorization after the company suspended its flights. The Ministry of Transport once again criticized Air France on Wednesday for having suspended its flights “unilaterally (…) without properly informing the authorities and customers beforehand”.
Air France was to operate via a Portuguese company
Air France announced on Tuesday that it would resume service to Bamako from Paris Charles-de-Gaulle at the rate of three direct flights per week on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The connection was no longer to be operated with planes from the company, but a Boeing 777-200 ER from the Portuguese company EuroAtlantic Airways and with employees of this company to constitute the crew.
An official close to the matter explained the choice of a third-party company and crews by the fact that the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs “formally” advised French people not to go to Mali, including aircrew, due to the security situation.