New Air Afrique to be launched soon

Air Afrique on Friday put the smiles back on the faces of its customers and staff when it assured them that although the airline would be liquidated a new carrier would replace it soon.

Mr Sessime Simeon Quadjovie, General Manager for Ghana, said in an interview that the new airline would be known as ''New Air Afrique'' and would operate like its predecessor.

"It would retain its old staff, operate Air Afrique airplanes and ply the same routes. But until Air Afrique's liquidation by March, the airline would be functioning as usual'', he said.

The Heads of States of 11 francophone African countries that own the debt-ridden Air Afrique at summit in Abidjan on January 10 decided that it should be liquidated and a new one established.

The summit also decided that an Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders should be convened before the end of January "to confirm the suspension of payment of its debts and the liquidation of the original company".

Mr Quadjovie said the 11 countries would hold 22 per cent shares in the "New Air Afrique'' with the remaining shares going to Air France, DHL and some banks. "There will be no let up. The new airline will operate as the old one. We want to assure our customers and staff that there will be no break in our operations", he said.

Several airlines are facing tremendous difficulties following the September 11 suicide attacks in the United States in which hijackers slammed commercial airplanes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in Washington. A third aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania.

Bookings for air travels have dropped significantly and enhanced security on airplanes is proving financially burdensome for some airlines, driving some of them out of business while others had to be bailed out by their governments.