Spare parts shortage grounds Sudan’s Marsland Aviation

Marsland, a major Sudanese airline serving South Sudan and the Middle East, suspended its operations on Sunday, blaming US sanctions.Rashid Ortashi, chairman of Marsland Aviation said Marsland switched from Russian aircraft to US Boeings in 2009 because of their better fuel economy and reliability. “We thought we could solve the problem of spare parts and maintenance, but we found it really difficult,” he said.”We are really begging the USA to lift sanctions on private companies in Sudan. They are dying,” Ortashi told AFP in an interview.Last week, the USA announced renewal of its economic sanctions in Sudan. It said that unresolved actions and policies by the Government of Sudan “are hostile to US interests and continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the USA”.Sudan called the decision the biggest threat to peace and social security in the country, saying that sanctions deny the people their rights in development and keeps them in a cycle of poverty.Marsland, which Ortashi founded in 2001, flew to the South Sudanese capital Juba, two destinations in Darfur and Jeddah and Cairo.Ortashi said foreign carriers were selling tickets in Sudanese pounds but had trouble converting their proceeds into US dollars for repatriation because of a shortage of hard currency in Sudan, which was the main reason they were pulling out of the market.For Marsland, US economic sanctions meant its three leased Boeing 737 jets could not be registered in Sudan but had to be listed in Georgia and Gambia at double the cost, Ortashi said.”It’s not economical at all,” Ortashi said, noting that his company had suffered losses of around $3.5 million in six months. The government’s September decision to slash fuel subsidies added to the problem, he said.In late September, President Omar Al Bashir lifted fuel subsidies in Sudan leading to price hikes and violent protests across the country. Thousands were arrested and about 210 people were killed, the Doctors’ Union estimates.Lufthansa, the last European airline with direct flights to Sudan, will end its service between Frankfurt and Khartoum on 19 January, AFP says.”Lufthansa offers its customers an extensive worldwide network and regularly monitors its profitability,” says the letter to clients dated 22 October and signed by Hartmut Volz, the airline’s Sudan general manager. “In this context it was decided to suspend services from Frankfurt to Khartoum.”An industry source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “the station is not doing well,” and that 12 staff will lose their jobs. Early this year the Dutch carrier KLM ended direct flights between Amsterdam and Khartoum, citing rising costs.File photo: El Fasher airport (Radio Dabanga file)Related: IMF: Sudan should lift more food and fuel subsidies (7 November 2013)