After the pan-African airlineAir Afrique went bankrupt in 2002, cross-border air transport in Africa became more difficult, especially in West and Central Africa. At a conference of the Economic Community of West African States and the West African Economic and Monetary Union at Niamey in Niger on 10 January 2004, it was decided to create a private, competitive, cost-effective airline offering all guarantees of safety and security for the region. In September 2005, under the initiative of Gervais Koffi G. Djondo, the company for the promotion of a regional airline was set up, which led to various feasibility studies and market studies, and sought financial and strategic partners; this led to the establishment of ASKY Airlines in November 2007 with Gervais Koffi G. Djondo as President. On 17 January 2008 the General Meeting to establish the new international private airline was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. 80% of shares were to be held by private investors, and 20% by public financial institutions whose mission is to support privately owned development institutions. Ethiopian Airlines became the technical and strategic partner under a management contract for the first five years of operation, holding a 40% stake. Originally planned for April 2009, the first revenue flight took place on 15 January 2010.
Corporate affairs
Ownership
The airline is privately owned. Main shareholders are Ethiopian Airlines, Ecobank, BIDC, BOAD, Sakhumnotho Group Holding and other West and Central African private investors.
Business trends
ASKY Airlines has been reported as being profitable, although accounts do not seem to have been published. Recent available figures are shown below :
2016
2017
2018
Turnover
Net profit
Number of employees
454
458
n/a
Number of passengers
488
488
559
Passenger load factor
63.2
61.5
61
Number of aircraft
8
7
8
Notes/sources
Destinations
ASKY Airlines serves the following 19 scheduled destinations throughout West and Central Africa from its hub at Lome :
Hub
Future
Suspended route
Alliances and codeshare agreements
ASKY is able to connect flights in its network to various points in the Ethiopian Airlines network, with whom it has codeshare arrangements, via Addis Ababa and beyond to the Middle East, Far East, and East Africa.
Fleet
The ASKY Airlines fleet comprises the following aircraft as of September 2019:
ASKY was one of the first airlines in the world to operate dual-class Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 aircraft, with a completely separate cabin for business class passengers.
Accidents and incidents
On 10 January 2015 an ASKY Airlines Boeing 737-43QSF, was damaged beyond repair in a landing accident and runway excursion at Kotoka International Airport, Accra, Ghana. The aircraft was written off and there were no fatalities.
