The Cameroonian Government has announced plans worth USD429million to buy two Boeing 787-8s for use by national carrier Camair-Co (QC), with delivery scheduled for 2015. The new deal comes as load factors on the airline's Douala - Yaoundé - Paris route's load factors have increased to 65.5% last month, against 47.3% for the route's inaugural in April.
Should the deal come through, Camair-Co will join Ethiopian Airlines (ET), Kenya Airways(KQ), Royal Air Maroc (AH), Arik Air (W3) and Rwandair (WB) as operators of the Boeing 787 in Africa.
“The procedure is already very advanced and a delivery date has been fixed. The aircraft will enter service in 2015,” the state-owned company’s commercial director Alphonse Bea said in a statement.
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| Camair-Co's Boeing 737-700 in Douala |
Created in September 2006 by Presidential decree, state-owned Camair-Co was intended as a replacement for the now defunct Cameroon Airlines, the then national airline which ceased operations in June 2008. Currently its fleet consists of two Boeing 737-700s and a Boeing 767-300, used to serve Douala, Yaoundé, Garoua and Maroua in Cameroon. Internationally, QC flies to Paris (CDG), Lyon, Brazzaville, Cotonou, Libreville, Malabo and N'Djamena. Kinshasa and Lagos are set for flights in late October.
In July, Cameroon signed a USD$115million deal with China's China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC) for three Xian MA-60 turboprop aircraft; the first of which was due in September. No details on these three MA60's current delivery status have been released.