Social media has gone wild over the last few days, rumouring that one of the carriers to Sierra Leone, Air France, will stop carrying passengers to the Freetown International Airport from October this year.
Several arguments have been raised online about Air France, but two significant issues of concern stand out. The first is that the airline is abandoning the Freetown route, and the second is about the possible reasons for leaving.
Government officials, celebrities and social media influencers have all weighed in on the controversy about the claim.
In a politically charged environment, the dissemination of the news has also taken a political direction, with some supporters of the government claiming it is opposition propaganda, whilst opposition social media influencers have also circulated the news widely, relating it to high taxes in the country’s aviation sector.
Popular opposition blogger Tunde Scott claimed in a Facebook post on his wall that Air France is pulling out because of high taxes.
On Monday, he said: “Air France suspends flights flying to Salone Airport because of the massive taxation increase by the Bio government….”
Scott was not the only one who claimed this. Another user Gomez Ayon Rodney even gave a specific date. He said flights from Air France to the country’s only airport will stop running from Oct. 22nd this year.
In response to these claims, Director of Communications at the President’s Office Micheal Berewa described all of it as false. Berewa said on Facebook: Air France withdrawing flights to and from Sierra Leone is just another APC usual big fat lie. DISREGARD.”
It was the comment section of Berewa’s post that was much more interesting. Popular musician and online influencer Nasser Ayoub called Berewa out, alleging that Air France has already informed authorities about the decision to exit and travelling agencies are no longer booking after the said date.
Berewa replied by posting a booking he attempted as far as November this year, beyond the date Ayoub and others have claimed.
In a separate post, the musician also listed why many more carriers could abandon the Freetown route. He said one of those reasons is the cost of tickets to Sierra Leone.
Is Air France exiting Sierra Leone?
It is difficult for DUBAWA to confirm Air France’s exit status because there has been no official comment. However, here’s what we know:
DUBAWA reached out to the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority, the official body in the country that should have authoritative information on flight schedules to and from Sierra Leone.
Every effort by DUBAWA to get the airline to go public proved futile. But given the height of the controversy, DUBAWA spoke to anonymous sources.
The source at the Authority said there is an “indication that Air France will indeed stop running to Freetown for the time being.”
He said the authority had not said anything because Air France had not officially written any communication as of Wednesday morning to confirm this decision.
The source further explained the possible reasons: “To be realistic, Sierra Leoneans don’t travel much. The population is too small. And even with that population, around 70-80% are foreigners, while the remainder are government officials.”
Other sources from the interview also said they would issue Summer and Winter schedules to airlines running to and from the country at least every six months. He said if it’s time to issue a new schedule and Air France does not request one, the country’s aviation body will also decide.
Activist and politician Naasu Fofanah posted what seemed like an email from Air France to a customer on her Facebook wall, announcing the temporary halt in flights to the country.
There are eight operational flights to Sierra Leone, including Air France. According to our aviation source, the aircraft that travel to the Lungi airport at least once a week have around 200 seats.
On his Facebook wall, another independent source, BBC’s correspondent in Freetown, Umaru Fofana, also confirmed that Air France is indeed pulling out.
The newly appointed Chief Minister’s tweet is another indication that the story is possibly true. Dr David Sengeh tweeted earlier this week that he has spoken to the airline’s West Africa chief and confirmed that it’s true.
He wrote: “I’d a good call with @AirFranceFR GM West Africa to understand the decision to suspend some routes in the region (Freetown and Banjul) starting this winter – long impact of covid, flight availability, and volume of travellers. We thank AF and remain ready to welcome them again!”
Dr Sengeh’s comment undercuts Berewa’s denial of the story’s authenticity.
Air France has remained tight-lipped on the issue; no official communication has been released by the airline on any of its information channels about whether the news is true.
DUBAWA also contacted AIR FRANCE at airfranceklmfinance@airfrance.fr but got an automatic email redirecting the request for comment to other links, all of which led to the help section of the AIR FRANCE website.
To follow up on the claim Nasser Ayoub made about travelling agencies not booking Air France tickets for dates beyond October, DUBAWA posed as a traveller at the IPC Travel, one of the country’s biggest and oldest travel agencies.
The ticket attendant said they could not book an Air France flight for November this year.
“We cannot book that far ahead. It won’t appear on the system. We can book as far ahead as August,” she said.
When asked whether Air France has informed them not to sell tickets after October, she said: “We have not been informed. We have just seen the rumours on social media. But if anything is happening, they will communicate to us in time.”
Possible Impact on Aviation
If the story turns out to be true, then this is not the first time Air France has halted its flight into Sierra Leone. In 2014 the carrier had to pull out of the country and the Mano River basin because of the Ebola outbreak.
This could also give the green light to other carriers like Turkish Airways and Air Maroc, among others, to consider doing the same. One less flight could mean less tax revenue for the government and its partner- Suma Airport, which has just invested $270 million to build a new terminal.
High cost of travelling to Sierra Leone
The cost of travelling to Sierra Leone is huge, no matter the airline and no matter where you are travelling from. Given the huge cost difference, some travellers now book flights via Guinea.
According to Trip Advisor, one of the world’s leading travelling websites, some of the cheapest one-way tickets to Abuja from Freetown will cost nearly $600. On most days, it will even cost more than $660.
A one-way ticket to neighbouring Accra from Freetown is close to $400, as listed on the site. A convenient one-way trip to the airport using a water taxi will also cost $45 per person, in addition to a $50 Security fee at the airport per person.
Journalist Umaru Fofana suggested that the latest Air France decision should be why the country should consider its tax policy.
“Now that Air France has indefinitely suspended flights to Sierra Leone due to the low traffic volume, is it not time to rethink our tax policy? One saves several hundred dollars flying from Conakry to Europe or the US – and a lot more to Australia and South America- on ticket costs alone,” he posted on his Facebook wall.
BBC Sports Correspondent based in Sierra Leone, Fajah Barrie, said he had to abandon his trip to Australia to cover the Women’s World Cup because of the high cost of tickets. Barrie said on his Facebook wall:
“Visa secured since May, accommodation in both Sydney and Melbourne arranged. But the flight to Sydney from Conakry is not secured because all flights are fully booked till September, according to travel agencies I’ve been contacting in Freetown since early June. I contacted the Emirates Airlines office in Conakry a few days ago, and I was told they had a space, but the ticket cost was $5,720. I also contacted another agency in Freetown two days ago, and the guy on the desk told me he had seen a space for me to depart on July 27, but I had to pay $6,700 for the tickets. I have given up!!!”
Barrie said in 2018, when he covered the Commonwealth Games in Australia in Gold Coast, he bought a flight ticket for $2000.
What’s next?
At some point, the government will have to decide how much taxes it can sacrifice, given the low passenger volumes from Sierra Leone. But this decision is much more difficult now, given that a private airport operator will be in Suma Group for the next two decades.
Suma Group’s deal with the Sierra Leone government is to run the airport for the next 25 years, get their money back and transfer the asset to the state after that period. So a lot of sacrifices will have to be made from both sides.
In a post-COVID era, where the aviation industry is still struggling to fly back to its normal altitude, tough decisions about profitability for most airlines will be made. The real threat is that it could ground the huge revenue potential the country has mapped out.
