Toumaï Air Tchad
Toumaï Air Chad (Arabic: الخطوط الجوية التشادية توماي) is the national flag carrier airline of Chad. It operated domestic services within Chad as well as scheduled international services to other African nations from its main base at N'Djamena International Airport. International flights appeared to have been operated by primarily South African crews, but there is no recent confirmation of this, and flights were grounded in July 2012 because of safety concerns. Scheduled flights appear to be suspended, but recent reports (September 2013) indicate that Toumaï Air Tchad had resumed limited operations on Hajj charter flights.
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Founded | 2004; 16 years ago | ||||||
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Hubs | N'Djamena International Airport | ||||||
Fleet size | 2 | ||||||
Destinations | 16 | ||||||
Headquarters | N'Djamena, Chad | ||||||
Key people | Mahamat Baba Abatcha (General Manager) |
History
Founded in 2004, Toumaï Air Tchad was a member of the International Air Transport Association.
Effective January 20, 2009, the U.S. Embassy in N'Djamena prohibited its employees from using Toumaï Air for official travel due to safety and maintenance concerns.
Effective July 6, 2012, Chadian authorities suspended international flights operated by Toumaï Air after an investigation by the international aviation body IATA revealed serious safety problems. Toumaï Air had just one aircraft left, a Fokker 28, after losing its leased Boeing 737-200 to creditors.[1]
In September 2013 it was reported that the airline had resumed limited operations with an ex-Georgian Star International B737-300 being deployed on Hajj charter flights from N'Djamena to Madinah, Saudi Arabia, and was also using a leased B747-200 for the duration of the pilgrimage.[2]
In August 2018, it was announced that the Government of Chad had signed an agreement with Ethiopian Airlines to launch Chad's new national carrier on 1 October 2018. It was also announced the airline would be named Tchadia Airlines and would start operations using a fleet of 2 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 transferred from Ethiopian, and would initially serve the four main cities in Chad and to neighboring countries.[3]
Destinations
The current destinations Toumaï Air Tchad serves are:
Saudi Arabia - Jeddah (King Abdulaziz International Airport) (Seasonal as hajj service)
Suspended Destinations
Destinations as of July 2008, before suspension of flights:
Africa
Benin Cameroon Central African Republic Chad - Abéché (Abéché Airport)
- Am Timan (Am-Timan Airport)
- Faya-Largeau (Faya-Largeau Airport)
- Moundou (Moundou Airport)
- N'Djamena (N'Djamena International Airport) Hub
- Sarh (Sarh Airport)
Côte d'Ivoire - Abidjan (Port Bouet Airport)
Gabon - Libreville (Libreville International Airport)
Republic of the Congo Togo - Lomé (Lomé-Tokoin Airport)
Fleet
The Toumaï Air Tchad fleet included the following aircraft (as of 10 April 2012):
Aircraft | In Service | Notes |
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Boeing 737-300 | 1 |
References
- "Chad bans national carrier over safety concerns". Reuters. July 6, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
- Accessed October 21, 2013
- "Chad signs deal with Ethiopian Airlines to launch national carrier". reuters.com. Retrieved 26 September 2018.