Camair-Co returns to N'Djamena in Chad after 2 years of absence
Last December, Camair-Co restarted its route from Libreville in Gabon, thus beginning the reconstruction of its regional network. From 24 April, the Cameroonian national carrier will also re-launch its N'Djamena route from Douala and Yaoundé.
The route will be operated by Dash8-400 three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays. On this route abandoned by Chadia Airlines (which ceased operations in January 2022), Camair-Co will compete with Asky Airlines, the Togolese flag carrier.
The Cameroonian flagship had suspended its rotation from N'Djamena in early 2020 when it was facing aircraft unavailability. It was the same reason that had led, in October 2019, to the indefinite suspension of its flights to West Africa, especially on its Abidjan, Cotonou and Lagos services. At that time, Camair-Co had only two active aircraft, 1 MA 60 and 1 Q400 (finally taken over by the lessor) out of a fleet of six aircraft.
With the recent African Cup of Nations football tournament, the Cameroonian carrier introduced two new Dash8-400s. These complete the operational fleet which includes two other aircraft (1 Embraer E145 and 1 Embraer E135, taken from Equatorial Guinea's Cronos Airlines. Its two MA60s are out of service, as are its two 737-700s which have been grounded since the first quarter of 2019, one of which (TJ-QCA) has been sent for maintenance in April 2021 to the workshops of Ethiopian Airlines in Addis Ababa. There, its only long-haul aircraft, a 767-300, has been grounded since 12 January 2018.
Recall that on the domestic front, Camair-Co serves Douala, Yaounde, Bafoussam, N'Gaoundere, Garoua and Maroua. Its return is still expected in Bamenda, in the English-speaking part of Cameroon. It was there in December 2019 that one of its MA60s was shot at when it landed.
