Air Sierra Leone Confirms Launch Date, Plans London Route

Sierra Leone’s new national airline Air Sierra Leone will commence operations in December with the launch of a route to the UK.

Starting Dec. 2, the carrier’s inaugural flight will connect Lungi International Airport in Freetown with London Gatwick Airport (LGW), marking a restoration of nonstop service between the West African nation and the UK for the first time since 2016.

The 6-hr. route will be served three times per week using Boeing 737-8 aircraft wet leased from an unnamed UK-based lessor. Air Sierra Leone plans to start operations with a fleet that includes one 737-8, one 737-400, and one Embraer ERJ145, according to Sierra Leone’s Minister of Transport Alhaji Fanday Turay.

The wet-leased aircraft will enable the airline to fly in UK and EU airspace, as air carriers certified by Sierra Leonean authorities remain blacklisted by both the UK and the EU. However, Air Sierra Leone is also working to secure its own Air Operating Certificate (AOC) in Sierra Leone, while the government is actively seeking removal from the EU blacklist, a designation the country has held since 2008.

Alongside the launch of LGW flights, the carrier plans to offer a route network that includes service to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; Accra, Ghana; Banjul, The Gambia; Conakry, Guinea; Dakar, Senegal; and Monrovia, Liberia.

“Plans for the new airline have been in the pipeline for many years, and we are now truly excited to share our progress with the world,” Turay says. “We hope that the new routes will provide increased numbers of visitors with the chance to experience Sierra Leone’s renowned hospitality and wealth of cultural, natural and historic assets, first-hand. We hope to develop additional routes linking Sierra Leone with the U.S. in 2025.”

According to OAG Schedules Analyser data, the Sierra Leone-UK market was last served nonstop between January and April 2016 by Fly Salone, a short-lived carrier that operated a leased 757-200 from Icelandair. Prior to that, British Airways served Freetown-London Heathrow until September 2014 when it suspended flights amid concerns over an Ebola outbreak.

ASKY Airlines is currently the largest operator in the Sierra Leone market at the present time, accounting for 37.3% of all departure seats. Brussels Airlines is the second largest with a 15.9% share, followed by Ethiopian Airlines on 12.6%.

Air Sierra Leone is being led by CEO Emmanuel Iza, with technical assistance provided by Nigeria’s Xejet.