International airlines suspend flights at Bamako airport due to jet fuel shortage

In a letter dated July 8, 2024, the Director General of the National Civil Aviation Agency of Mali (ANAC) requested ASECNA's representative in Mali to issue a NOTAM about the unavailability of Jet A1 fuel at Modibo Keita-Senou International Airport from July 9 to July 15. Ould Mamouni, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport, told Reuters: "There are a lot of flight operations these days, and that has affected the fuel stock. This is to announce to companies that, given the limited fuel stock, they will not be able to refuel in Bamako; they can consider obtaining supplies in neighboring countries before coming to Mali."

Sky Mali announced on July 10 that it had canceled at least four flights due to the jet fuel shortage. The airline stated: "Sky Mali apologizes for the inconvenience caused by this situation, which affects all airlines in Bamako-Senou, and is currently taking all necessary measures to be able to operate its flights again as soon as possible. Sky Mali will inform its customers as soon as flights resume."

Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 indicates that disruptions began shortly after communication from ANAC's director. Several flights were either canceled or diverted. For instance, Tunisair Flight TU399 from Abidjan was forced to divert to Tunis Carthage Airport on July 10.

Turkish Airlines has not operated any flights to Bamako since July 8. The airline typically schedules up to six weekly flights from Istanbul using Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A330 aircraft. It remains unclear when these services will resume.

Other airlines have had to adapt by modifying their carrying capacity or adding technical stops before proceeding to Bamako. Data from aviation analytics company Cirium shows that around 13 scheduled passenger airlines serve Bamako with over 100 weekly flights. ASKY Airlines leads with 18 weekly flights, followed by Ethiopian Airlines with 14 and Royal Air Maroc with 11.

Air France previously operated daily flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) and Bamako but suspended services in August 2023 due to security concerns following a coup in Niger and subsequent airspace closure. Malian authorities have since rejected Air France's plans to resume operations.