At the end of this year or the beginning of 2022, a new airline is to start that has already started the certification process with the Malabo authorities. The company is backed by local business people who have an excellent track record with a diversified portfolio of investments.

The entire project is led by the well-known Spanish pilot and entrepreneur Angel Ronda. The latter hardly needs an introduction, as she has flown extensively in Africa for Air Consul on board her Piper Navajo. In addition, he was also one of the promoters of the Spanish virtual airline flyMellila, which proved to be a great success and enabled the ACMI provider Aeronova to make a quantum leap.

Thanks to the agreement, Aeronova improved its AOC and added its first passenger with ATR aircraft. Angel Ronda is known in the corridors of power of major Spanish airlines for having worked closely with Air Europa, Wamos and Plus Ultra, to name a few. Between 2006 and 2008 he worked with Andreas Kaiafas on his then still young airline Cronos before moving to Weiden and mainly focusing on GSA and sales.

With its excellent track record, Ronda was enlisted by the government of Equatorial Guinea to revive CEIBA. Despite the orders for new aircraft, the national airline of Equatorial Guinea did not have an AOC and the 3C register was blacklisted by the EU, which made any flight connections between Malabo and Madrid almost impossible.

In an exclusive conversation with MaviO News, the lively entrepreneur confided that all state airlines in the region were affected by this malaise. With political interference, it was very difficult to make an airline work. He gave examples of what was happening in Gabon and Cameroon and how Air Afrique worked well until it was run by Air France management. It then collapsed when the pan-African airline was left to its own devices.

Angel Ronda is an extravagant and popular aviation manager. We're trying to extrapolate more information about his newest project - Fly4Africa Airlines. How did this project come about? Ronda pauses for a moment and explains that he has been introduced to this fantastic Guinean businesswoman who, with her husband, has built an empire ranging from hotels to agribusiness.

When she saw the void in the market, she was keen to explore the aviation industry. That's how Angel came into the picture. A travel agency called Punta Europa Aviacion was founded in Malabo. An external office was opened in Madrid. Initially, a virtual airline with Wamos and their Airbus A330 was launched on the route before switching from Plus Ultra to an A340. The route was initially operated every 15 days before being switched to a weekly departure.

Load factor increased sharply

In the first few months the occupancy factors fluctuated between 40% / 50%, but now Angel Ronda admits that they have increased to 90/95%. He was quick to joke that some flights were actually overbooked. Due to the restrictions imposed by the government to contain the spread of COVID-19, they are currently unable to increase the frequency on the Madrid-Malabo route. Here Angel Ronda reveals that Punta Europa Aviacion does not want to remain a virtual airline and the process with the local civil aviation authority has already been initiated to let Fly4Africa Airlines fly by the end of the year.

The well-known broker Air Partner is also involved as a consultant in this start-up and the first aircraft is likely to be an Embraer 190. The airline currently has two proposals that will be submitted to the Board of Management for assessment. He is firmly convinced that Fly4Africa will steadily grow to four Embraer 36s in 190 months and at the same time pursue the vision of making Malabo a regional hub.

Plus Ultra is used

The switch from Wamos to Plus Ultra was deemed necessary as the A340-300s in the Plus Ultra fleet have a three-class layout as opposed to the two-class layout of the Wamos A330s. The airline is also considering expanding its route network, with Paris firmly on the radar screen. Fly4Africa is expected to fly regionally, with ACMI-based long-haul flights being operated by partner airlines until Fly4Africa can introduce its own long-haul fleet.

The Spanish aviation guru firmly believes that Fly4Africa can be a profitable company in West Africa within five years and not least contribute to making Malabo and its soon-to-be-opened terminal the regional hub of choice for business and leisure travelers in the region .

This post was written by: Chris Cauchi and Marvic Bugeja / MAviO News