Alex Van Elk, the CEO of Cameroonian national carrier Camair-Co (QC), says the airline is considering either Embraer E-Jets or Bombardier's upcoming CSeries for its mid-range fleet, with an extra Boeing 787-8 to be added to its shopping list.
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| Camair-Co B737-700 (shanairpic) |
In an interview with ATW World, Van Elk stated that Camair-Co was "seeking three mid-range aircraft with the Embraer E-190/195 or the Bombardier CSeries emerging as potential candidates." He added that QC is also considering a third Boeing 787-8 to add to two others it signed for in October as part of a USD430million deal with Boeing. Deliveries were originally slated for 2015, but have now been pushed back to 2019.
“We are not looking to be the biggest airline—we will not have a fleet of 20-30 aircraft. We are looking to be small and profitable. We are talking about going up to 10 aircraft, maximum, in the next couple of years,” Van Elk said.
Presently, Camair-Co's fleet consists of 3 aircraft: a Boeing 767-300 and two B737-700s (leased from the Aviation Capital Group) with another exotic acquisition to come in the form of a deal with Chinese aircraft manufacturers AVIC for three MA60s, set for delivery next year, despite having been scheduled to be in QC's service by September of this year.
The MA60 contract has attracted some controversy in the local Cameroonian press over allegations of possible graft following the discovery of glaring discrepancies between the listed price and the price agreed to by the Cameroonian Government.