(Business in Cameroon) - Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority CCAA is requesting Camair-Co, the public airline corporation, to get the opinion of the Chinese manufacturer of MA-60s before reauthorizing the banned aircraft to fly.
The ban will not be lifted unless “we obtain a verification evidence of the airworthiness of the MA-60 aircraft operated by Camair-Co,” CCAA’s MD, Paule Assoumou, said in a communique.
Indeed, due to the “Tail Strike” (shock between the tail of an aircraft and the ground) that occurred March 10, 2019, with the MA-60 aircraft registered TJ-QDA, at Bafoussam-Bamougoum airport, CCAA suspended the use of the damaged plane.
Backed on April 1, 2015, the government acquired two MA-60 aircrafts from Avic International for Camair-Co. Acquisition was financed with a XAF34.5 billion loan granted by Eximbank of China. But a few months before the aircrafts were delivered, a controversy arose in Cameroon over their quality and reliability and the then Chinese ambassador to the country, Wo Ruidi, claimed the “MA-60s are reliable.” Today, these aircrafts are of concern to the aviation authority.
Camair-Co released February 25 a statement announcing “its flight schedule is disrupted”; disruptions caused by a series of “hazards on technical tools (aircraft).” Currently, the entire fleet (six aircrafts, including two MA-60s) of the national airline is out of order.
S.A