Burkina Faso seeks buyer for Air Burkina

Air Burkina Embraer 170
The Burkinabe government has begun its search for a new buyer for recently nationalized carrier Air Burkina, reports ch-aviation.

The Aga Khan Foundation sold its 51% shareholding to the government for a symbolic 1 CFA franc as part of its strategy to reduce its exposure to the volatile African aviation industry.
According to the Voice of America, Burkina Faso's president Roch Kaboré has confirmed he has already reached out to Qatar Airways "to see how far cooperation can be achieved by the end of the year."

Air Burkina SA is the national airline of Burkina Faso, operating scheduled services to one domestic destination, Bobo-Dioulasso, as well as regional services to Togo, Benin, Mali, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Ghana. It is majority owned by an AKFED/IPS consortium, and operates from its main base at Ouagadougou Airport.

Over the years, the airline has had serious debt problems, reaching a deficit of one billion CFA francs in 1992 (approx. €1,500,000). In part to address its debt problem, the Burkina Faso government privatised Air Burkina on 21 February 2001, transferring 56% of the shares to the AKFED/IPS consortium, part of the Aga Khan Development Network). At that time, the government retained 14% of shares.In 2001, following Air Burkina's privatisation and the liquidation of Air Afrique, the airline's debt had largely been alleviated and it was predicting an annual revenue of around 3.5 billion CFA francs (more than €5,000,000).

Press reports in August 2013 said that the majority shareholder, AKFED & IPS, will be called in for talks by the Government after its most recent Council of Ministers meeting resolved to discuss the airline's current financial state. According to the Burkinabé Ministry of Infrastructure & Transport, a recent report presented to government outlining the current state of Air Burkina claims the Burkinabé national carrier "faces a difficult financial and economic situation."

Source: http://www.africanaerospace.aero/burkina-faso-seeks-buyer-for-air-burkina.html

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