Downsizing in Cameroon Airlines Corporation

The Board of Directors of the Cameroon Airlines Corporation (Camair Co), the Cameroonian public airline, have met twice this month to deliberate of downsizing the company's staff.

During the meeting on October 15, credible sources informed that the Council of the company is experiencing significant financial difficulties, therefore, the implementation of a plan to reduce staff deemed overstaffed.

For a fleet of three aircraft, Camair Co employs around 800 people, said insiders. However, according to experts, the standard tops out at 70 people the number of employees per aircraft. This means that an airline the size of Camair Co should have more than 210 employees.

It was noted that the top management of the state airline made that decision when the process of "recruiting a consultant to audit and support Camair Co in the development of a restructuring plan and recovery" is underway. A call for expressions of interest was issued to this effect on September by the Ministry of Finance.

As a reminder, since the launch of its operations in 2011, Cameroon's public air transport company never really took off in terms of competitiveness and profitability.

With a fleet that has never exceeded three aircraft, Camair Co bends today and it is officially under a debt estimated at FCFA 30 billion. This was recently revealed by its CEO, Jean Paul Nana Sandjo, the fourth since the maiden flight of the company 4 years ago.