Foundation

After the pan-African airline Air 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 (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) 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.^[8]

In September 2005, under the initiative of Gervais Koffi G. Djondo, the company for the promotion of a regional airline (SPCAR) 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.^[9] Ethiopian Airlines became the technical and strategic partner under a management contract for the first five years of operation, holding a 40% stake.^[10][11]

Originally planned for April 2009, the first revenue flight took place on 15 January 2010.^{[citation needed]}

In 2020 ASKY Airlines was found to be operating the world's shortest international flight route, between Kinshasa and Brazzaville, at 13 miles (21 km).^[12]

Ownership

The airline is privately owned. Main shareholders are Ethiopian Airlines (40%), Ecobank, BIDC, BOAD, Sakhumnotho Group Holding, and other West and Central African private investors as well as the Togolese government having a minority stake of 14.39%.^[13][14]

Business trends

Asky Airlines has been reported as being profitable,^[15] although accounts do not seem to have been published. The airline states that it first registered a profit in 2015 and has been consistently profitable since 2017.^[7] In the 2021 fiscal year, Asky made a profit of over 12 million dollars, and in 2022, it made a profit of 30 million dollars.^[16] The airline has carried over 1.2 million passengers in 2019 alone with 15 aircraft serving 28 destinations across west, central, south and eastern Africa with a plan to expand to north Africa.^[17][18]

Recent available figures (largely from AFRAA reports) are shown below (for years ending 31 December):

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. In 2021, ASKY became a member of IATA.^[25]