{{The four-member West African bloc, the Mano River Union (MRU), will launch its planned regional airline next year, officials said in Freetown.}}
Mano Air, as the airline will be officially called, was first conceived last year in Monrovia.
Officials also say an aircraft could not be put in the air until now because of delays among others in issuing airline licences.
But at the ministerial meeting of the bloc`s members in Freetown, last week, January 17, 2015 was selected as “tentative date” for the launch, said Leonard Balogun Koroma, Sierra Leone`s Transport and Aviation Minister, who is the current chair of the Ministerial Council on the Roberts Flights Information System (RFIS).
RFIS is a tripartite agreement among Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Its headquarters is hosted in central Liberia, from where the three countries` air spaces are managed so that aircrafts flying through them pay revenues and, crucially, are identified for security reasons.
RFIS was established by the founding fathers of the MRU, an association established in 1973 by Liberia and Sierra Leone. Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire joined later.
January 17 next year will be the 40th anniversary of that landmark occasion, and the maiden Air Mano plane is planned for official unveiling then.
Accordingly, the Freetown meeting was convened to discuss this issue and also plans to acquire more effective equipment for the RFIS to pick up aircraft flying in the region.
{{Cheaper option}}
Air Mano is already being fronted as the answer to the region`s demand for cheaper and accessible airline that links the three countries.
Officials say it will reduce huge inconveniences faced by the region`s over 15 million citizens while accelerating its regional integration process.
Minister Koroma said that the union was convinced that with a joint airline, the region could better competed with bigger airlines already present in the region.
Currently, the Ethiopian Airlines majority-owned ASKY Airlines, launched in 2009, dominates West African skies
Despite this, the MRU countries are seriously under served.
ASKY came into being following the liquidation of a number of airlines in the region.
Besides Cote d’Ivoire, which is only an affiliate member of the Mano union and which is not mentioned in this joint venture, none of the three founding members – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – have national airlines presently, or domestic flights.
{{Relaunched}}
Cote D’Ivoire only recently re-launched its state carrier, Air Cote D’Ivoire.
And unlike Liberia, both Sierra Leone and Guinea used to own national carriers but which are all defunct. Plans for foreign backed national carriers of both countries have so far failed to materialise.
There is therefore no direct flight between any of these four countries, except for short stopovers between Monrovia in Liberia and Freetown in Sierra Leone.
Linking Monrovia to Conakry could take a passenger through two airports in between (Lome and Accra) before your final destination.
A direct flight between Monrovia and Abidjan should normally take two hours. However, since that is not yet available, ASKY flights through the same route have been reported to take up to six hours due to re-routing through Accra, Lomé, and then Abidjan.
This has caused a lot of inconveniences, notably even on official visits to neighbouring countries, said Mr Koroma.
{{Low numbers}}
A lot of this is also attributed to low passenger volumes travelling out of the countries in the region.
Therefore, aviation critics have cast doubt about the commercial viability and sustainability of a regional airline of this nature in the prevailing situation.
The ministerial meeting in Freetown was preceded by aviation experts meeting who set the agenda for the politicians.
It was later agreed that a delegation be constituted to visit Cote d’Ivoire where modalities for the identification and creation of a logo for the flight could be done.
Nonetheless, MRU officials see a huge market that can only fully be exploited when major cities in the three countries are properly linked.
“We have now, since the beginning of the 21st century, been enjoying a relative peace and our cities have changed into bigger ones. And these have to be joined in trade,” said MRU secretary-general, Haja Dr Saraban Kabbah.
{NMG}
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