SN Brussels' expansion in Africa: it may acquire Camair

Join this forum to discuss the latest news that happened in the world of commercial aviation.

Moderator: Latest news team

Post Reply
Robertcarion

Post by Robertcarion »

Philippe1983 wrote::teach: Let's first see how the SN-VEX marriage will do on the European market, after that we will maybe think about expansion plans...
You see Philippe, the problem is that its not a question of big expansion, its just a question of re-arranging the African strategy of SNBA. The merge of SN and VEX as your saying will not solve the issues regarding Africa. If we wait for the merge we are losing even more time, and this moment time is of the utter most importance. Competition is fierce, and actions have to be taken now, Today is already yesterday, Tomorrow is today. Get my point.

SN30952
Posts: 7128
Joined: 31 Jul 2003, 00:00

Post by SN30952 »

sn26567 wrote:For those of you who know French, the link hereafter is really worth reading. You will learn about the megalomaniac plans of the US company (Valiant Airways Ltd) that wants to take over Camair with the support of the Prime Minister (althoughtheir bid came in late): a fleet of 747s serving, from Douala, 3-4 destinations in the US, several European destinations, the Philippines, Brasil, etc!

This company has only lose ties with United (which, being under bankruptcy laws, cannot create a new company anyway).

http://www.camer.be/index2.php?art=2188

The website of Valiant, which shows a map of Texas (they are based in Houston) and one of Cameroon, is unfortunately password-protected! Something to hide?
http://valiantair.com/
Africa! Africa!
Valiant Airways (Houston, Texas) plans to operate between Houston and Douala on behalf of Halliburton using a Boeing 747-400 Combi or one of two 747-300s, using the certificate of TradeWinds Airlines.
Image

Valiant Airways
Houston, Texas
Two Allen Center
1200 Smith Street 16th Floor
Houston, 770002
Office: + 713-677-3470

Allen Center is a 3.1 million square foot Class "A" office complex in downtown Houston

16th Floor is the Regus floor....

Douala, 3-4 destinations in the US, several European destinations, the Philippines, Brasil, etc!:?:
Valiant is a charter company, it operates ad hoc charters.
Remember some time ago, I explained an 747 operation between Houstin and Luanda?
FLIGHT CITY FLIGHT DATE SCHEDULED GATE REMARK
WO 101 Luanda 12/3/2006 7:00 AM D9 At 6:55A

Refering to the last data available from Houston (IAH) this World Airways
deplaned 1.033
emplaned 1.043 passengers in Sep 2006. HAS (Houston Airport System) calculated that this was a market share of 0.07%
In cargo World
deplaned 0 lbs
emplaned 217.131 lbs this was a market share of 0.33%.

I do not expect Valiant to do better.... :roll:

User avatar
sn26567
Posts: 40815
Joined: 13 Feb 2003, 00:00
Location: Rosières/Rozieren, Belgium
Contact:

Post by sn26567 »

Story not over yet.

It seems that the Government of Cameroon, under fressure from the International Monetary Fund (a UN agency) has asked SN Brussels to reconsider its offer to re-launch Camair with a fleet increased from 3 to 6 planes.

https://www.aviation24.be/article13328.html
André
ex Sabena #26567

b-west

Post by b-west »

This whole thing is starting to look like a bad joke... Anyway, I keep my fingers crossed for SN

User avatar
jal
Posts: 87
Joined: 30 Nov 2004, 00:00

Post by jal »

sn26567 wrote:Story not over yet.

It seems that the Government of Cameroon, under fressure from the International Monetary Fund (a UN agency) has asked SN Brussels to reconsider its offer to re-launch Camair with a fleet increased from 3 to 6 planes.

https://www.aviation24.be/article13328.html
There seems to be no date on the article of Camair.be :?:

It does seem to be an old one :!: :?:

User avatar
Atlantis
Posts: 4912
Joined: 12 Apr 2005, 00:00

Post by Atlantis »

jal wrote:
sn26567 wrote:Story not over yet.

It seems that the Government of Cameroon, under fressure from the International Monetary Fund (a UN agency) has asked SN Brussels to reconsider its offer to re-launch Camair with a fleet increased from 3 to 6 planes.

https://www.aviation24.be/article13328.html
There seems to be no date on the article of Camair.be :?:

It does seem to be an old one :!: :?:
If you go to the menu, you can choose Economy, there you see that the article is from date 29.12.06, yesterday.

User avatar
sn26567
Posts: 40815
Joined: 13 Feb 2003, 00:00
Location: Rosières/Rozieren, Belgium
Contact:

Post by sn26567 »

jal wrote:There seems to be no date on the article of Camair.be :?:

It does seem to be an old one :!: :?:
The article is very fresh, even if history seems to repeating itself over and over.

I doubt SN will give a positive answer: "Chat échaudé craint l'eau froide".
André
ex Sabena #26567

User avatar
tolipanebas
Posts: 2442
Joined: 12 May 2004, 00:00

Post by tolipanebas »

With all the stalling, re-iterations and undecisive conclusion of this privatisation process Cameroon could very well end up WITHOUT an airline all together.

SN probably isn't going to be very willing to start all over again, now that it has reoriented the fleet of 3 BAe146 it had reserved for the African operations to new routes within Europe (soon to be announced, one already leaked out: Krakow) and the demand to increase the fleet from 3 to 6 is just ridiculous really, since there are not enough profitable routes to keep 6 planes busy!

The old Camair MUST be liquidated according to the agreement with the IMF, or the country will be left on its own and will face total bankruptcy, yet the offer from the US isn't deemed a valid offer by the IMF and will thus not get any funding from them.
Quite logically too BTW, since it came in TOO late, is very vague and more importantly and contrary as to what you keep on reading in the African press, it is NOT United Airlines itself which is bidding, but a very dubious holding which will use some operating assets of UA (through lease) to set up the operations.

Seems like Cameroon has just realised it wasted their last chance with the IMF when they dumped SN and is now desperately trying to get a second chance....

I'd say, let them be, because if this is the way they conduct business, how on earth is SN ever going to have guarantees for a stable business environment for the spin off to operate independently????

User avatar
TWA
Posts: 606
Joined: 04 Oct 2003, 00:00
Location: Thalahassee, FL -- Sint-Truiden, BE
Contact:

Post by TWA »

Wisely spoken, SN is already beaten by most European carriers on the African routes, so they'd better start focussing on the Americas and Middle East.

sn-remember
Posts: 848
Joined: 13 Sep 2004, 00:00
Location: Jodoigne/Geldenaken
Contact:

Post by sn-remember »

Well I would not be so definite.
I think SNba should seal a deal if possible.
But they must ensure that the control of the airline is guaranteed to be in SN hands.

However starting a new airlines means MONEY and I understand very well that they would start as a small player.
On the longer run, there is place for development.

I would expect that a progressive approach should eventually get the Cameroonese authorities approval.

Best regards
Christophe

User avatar
Darjeeling
Posts: 307
Joined: 29 Dec 2006, 10:13

Post by Darjeeling »

It's simply one of those African stories... Camair is all about a huge mess
as is the entire Cameroon aviation.
To establish a hub in DLA, KGL or EBB is not a good idea at all. SNba will
always face the same problems. Nor sending three very old and
unreliable BAe146 in such countries. Guess why other good carriers never
did it ?

User avatar
sn26567
Posts: 40815
Joined: 13 Feb 2003, 00:00
Location: Rosières/Rozieren, Belgium
Contact:

Post by sn26567 »

Story not over yet. In a news item released today:
Meanwhile, the airline is pursuing discussions to take over Cameroon Airlines (Camair), for which it is the only candidate. "Negotiations are still ongoing, but as always in such a deal, it takes time. However we are confident we will succeed", said a reliable source.
Everyone know that African aviation is a long pow-wow...
André
ex Sabena #26567

SN30952
Posts: 7128
Joined: 31 Jul 2003, 00:00

Post by SN30952 »

sn26567 wrote:Everyone know that African aviation is a long pow-wow...
Looks like this item is on the agenda, yearly in March.
Actually it seems to bother very few people....

The last I read about this was in (OCT2006) from le Quotidien Mutations
Le flou persiste au sujet du statut du consortium First Delta Air Service, pendant que les Yankees manoeuvrent en coulisse. La compagnie United Airlines et l’ambassadeur des Usa au Cameroun auraient déjà eu l’accord du gouvernement, en attendant la finalisation des procédures...

And:
...totalement pris de court et dénonçant cette rupture abusive de contrat, le consortium First Delta Air Services, à travers notamment Sn Brussels et Cenainvest, auraient même porté plainte au gouvernement camerounais, à l’effet d’obtenir une forte indemnité....

and:
...si au final la compagnie américaine a des chances de rafler la mise, il faudra qu’elle respecte les procédures. Et ces procédures devraient commencer par l’annonce par le gouvernement, après avoir mis sur pied les nouveaux organes dirigeants de Camair Co, du caractère infructueux de l’offre du consortium piloté par Sn Brussels, jusqu’à présent adjudicataire provisoire. Selon les dispositions du décret signé en juin dernier par le président de la République, cela permettrait alors, enfin, à United Airlines d’entrer officiellement dans la concurrence en présentant un dossier " en béton ", avec des offres plus intéressantes que celles des autres....

http://www.quotidienmutations.info/ Their frontpage today.

User avatar
sn26567
Posts: 40815
Joined: 13 Feb 2003, 00:00
Location: Rosières/Rozieren, Belgium
Contact:

Post by sn26567 »

This picture clearly illustrates the current status of Camair:

Image

(excerpted from an article published early this month)
André
ex Sabena #26567

SN30952
Posts: 7128
Joined: 31 Jul 2003, 00:00

Post by SN30952 »

sn26567 wrote:This picture clearly illustrates the current status of Camair
current status?
In better days, I would say....

I think Cameroonians do not like Brussels very much. Neither do they like the Australians or the French. Les 'Blancs' as they call them.
Do not forget it was an Australian leasing company that took back its aircraft in 2004 putting an abrupt end to Camair's Douala-Paris flights.
One year later they were forbidden to fly to Paris with their old aircraft, as it was blacklisted.
That is where Air Italy came in. (I developed about Air Italy a few days ago)
Only on SEP 11, 2006 are all the Camair activa transferred to Cameroon airlines corporation. Where did the passiva go?
Art. 7 — (1) La société " CAMAIR " Co ne reprend aucun passif de la société Cameroon Airlines.
Décret N° 2006/293 du 11 septembre 2006 fixant la création de la nouvelle compagnie aérienne du Cameroun « Cameroon airlines corporation »

Would it be safe for them to come to Brussels? What could the Australians do?
Cameroun: Douala, les comptes de la Camair bloqués
Le Quotidien Mutations 28 Février 2007
Une derniere saisie conservatoire connue date du 19/01/07, suite a un ordere a chambre commerciale du Tribunal de grande instance de Paris.

This means that even when the President of Camoroon in his 'decret' stipulates that the new company will not carry the passiva of Camair, this is not seen the same way outside Cameroon.

What about the current status? There were indeed better days...

Post Reply