Is Camair-Co going the CAMAIR way?

In May 2008, Cameroon’s national carrier, Cameroon Airlines, CAMAIR, was written off as a bad business.

CAMAIR had been crippled by heavy debts caused by mismanagement, excessive recruitment of workers, embezzlement, excessive borrowing, disrespect of engagement with business partners, among others. In its wake, Government created Camair-Co with the hyphenated suffix Co giving thenew company a new face.

Barely five years after, four General Managers, GM, been hired and fired, over FCFA 30 billion in debts and a monthly deficit of FCFA 1.5 billion.

Camair-Co stands a good chance to go off the air like its predecessor.

The first GM of Camair-Co in March 2011 was Dutch, Alex van Elk. His dreams ofCamair-Co taking the skies by storm were shattered by over-recruitment and a steady flow of debts.

In January 2013, another Dutch man, Matthijs-Johannes Boertien, was appointed to replace, Alex Van Elk. The debt jinx and more redundant employees followed Boertien into his office; revenues dropped, clipping Camair-Co’s wings.

In September of the same year, President Biya fired Boertien and decided to shop for a homebred manager.

He did not go far as he sighted Frederick MbottoEdimo, then Camair-Co Deputy GM.

MbottoEdimo was promoted to GM and Camair-Co’s debts seemed to soar with Edimo in the cockpit.

His own exit was occasioned by the seizure of one of Camair-Co’s aircraft at Charles de Gaulle Airport in France in2014 for accrued debts.

With a quick nod from President Biya, Edimo was out of Camair-Co and quickly replaced with another Cameroonian, Jean-Paul Nana Sandjo, an expert in air transport.

On December 10, 2015, with Camair-Co still on the runway, Nana Sandjo let the cat out of the bag; the national carrier is up to its ears in debts amounting to over FCFA 30 billion and climbing monthly by FCFA 1.5 billion.

750 Workers for 3 Aircraft

When Nana Sandjo took over as GM, the company had 570 workers on its payroll. Today, the number has risen to 750. This gives a simple ratio of 250 workers to a plane.

These workers earn over FCFA 500 million monthly as the new Minister of Transport, Edgard Alain MebeNgo’o, recently disclosed in Parliament.

Meanwhile, on December 11, 2015, in Douala, allegations were afloat that one of Camair-Co’s planes had been impounded at Charles de Gaulle Airport on December 9, 2015, for unpaid debts.

As if to confirm the crippling indebtedness of Camair-Co, Nana Sandjo had put the company’s debt at FCFA 30 billion although sources inside Camair-Co said the total debts stand at FCFA 35 billion.

There is reason to believe the FCFA 35billion debt, considering the special correspondence the Camair-Co Board Chairman, EdouardAkameMfoumou (former Defence Minister) addressed to PresidentBiyaon April 6, 2015.

In that correspondence, Akame Mfoumou had disclosed that the total debts Camair-Co owed as of December 31, 2014was FCFA 30 billion.

He had indicated that the company’s debt is steadily increasing. He also said that while the average monthly revenue of Camair-Co is FCFA 2.5 billion, the company’s average monthly expenditure is FCFA 4 billion, and so the company is registering a monthly deficit of FCFA 1.5 billion.

To Akame Mfoumou,Camair-Co with barely three aircraft as at April 6, 2015, employed 720 personnel and was spendingFCFA 480 million monthly as salaries.

To make Camair-Co’s matters worse, the company hires two of the three planes, Boeing 737-700 ER, each with 128 seats.

Camair-Co owns only one aircraft, The Dja(Boeing 767-300 ER) with 210 seats, which it inherited from the defunct CAMAIR.

Business Plan

In his correspondence to Biya, Camair-Co Board Chairhadargued that if the New Business Plan of the company is validated, the company would by the end of this year have nine aircraft and the number of workers would hit 1000.

AkameMfoumou said this would put the ratio ofCamair-Co’s workers to the number of aircraft at 111 workers to one aircraft.

Such a ratio, he said, is not bad in air transport business. Analysts, however, argue that it is not a good ratio, especially for a young airline company that is neck-deep in debts.

A recent publication by Sky Team Group indicates that Kenya Airwayshas 93 employees to one plane; Ethiopian Airlines has 104 workers to a plane while Royal Air Maroc has 85 workers to a plane.

In the meantime, Camair-Co’s New Business Plan hasn’t yet taken off.

Going by it, the company was supposed to have in July-August 2015 borrowed FCFA 30 billion from a group of local commercial banks.

The money would have been used to buy four new aircraft. This delay notwithstanding, the October 2, 2015, cabinet shakeup during which Prof.Robert Nkili was sacked as Transport Minister brings some hope that the New Business Plan will materialise in the near future.

In a related story, Camair-Co General Manager announced that the company will begin flying the two new Chinese MA 60 planes before the end of this month.