CEIBA Intercontinental is an

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

headquartered in

Malabo Malabo ( , ; formerly ) is the capital of Equatorial Guinea in the province of Bioko Norte. It is located on the north coast of the island of Bioko (, and as ''Fernando Pó'' by the Europeans). In 2018, the city had a population of approxim ...

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

, and based at

Malabo International Airport Malabo Airport or Saint Isabel Airport () is an airport located at ''Punta Europa'', Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. The airport was named after the capital, Malabo Malabo ( , ; formerly ) is the capital of Equatorial Guinea in the pro ...

History

In 2009, the

Agence France Press Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...

(AFP) reported that the CEO of CEIBA Intercontinental Mamadou Jaye, a Senegalese citizen of Gambian origin, left Equatorial Guinea with a suitcase containing 3.5 billion

CFA francs CFA franc (, ) is the name of two currencies used by 210 million people (as of 2023) in fourteen African countries: the West African CFA franc (where "CFA" stands for , i.e. "African Financial Community" in English), used in eight West African co ...

(approximately 5 million

euros The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

or 6.5 million

United States dollars The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

) and spare

ATR ATR may refer to: Medicine * Acute transfusion reaction * Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related, a protein involved in DNA damage repair Science and mathematics * Advanced Test Reactor, nuclear research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, ...

aircraft parts to negotiate trade deals with

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

The Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, and

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

and to establish a West African office for CEIBA. The report said that Jaye never returned to Equatorial Guinea. Jaye denied that he took money from the company and filed a lawsuit against Rodrigo Angwe, the Malabo-based correspondent for Agence France Presse and

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the State media, state-owned international radio news network of France. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world ...

(RFI) who submitted the story. Angwe used an employee as a source; the employee said that he received the information from the internet. After the employee's admission, AFP and RFI retracted the story. Jaye accused Angwe of publishing the internet article himself.Journalist appears in court on defamation charges
" ''

International Freedom of Expression Exchange IFEX, formerly International Freedom of Expression Exchange, is a global network of more than 119 independent non-governmental organisations that work at a local, national, regional, or international level to defend and promote freedom of expre ...

''. 28 April 2009. Retrieved on 19 October 2009. It continues to operate regional and internal flights. In 2022 it was announced the company would be privatised. In 2024 CEIBA was discussing selling a stake in the company to

Ethiopian Airlines Ethiopian Airlines (), formerly ''Ethiopian Air Lines'' (EAL), is the flag carrier of Ethiopia, and is wholly owned by the country's government. EAL was founded on 21 December 1945 and commenced operations on 8 April 1946, expanding to intern ...

after an official expression of interest CEIBA is one among a number of state businesses due to be sold off under a 2019

IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of la ...

deal.

Malabo to Madrid

In 2012 the airline began operating the route with its own planes. This came after the route had been operating throughout the 90s, 00s, and early 10s, under Spanish airlines such as

Spanair Spanair S.A. was a Spanish airline, with its head office in the Spanair Building in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, near Barcelona. Until 2009, it was a subsidiary of the SAS Group; the same parent company in control of Scandinavian Airlines and held ...

. As of 2013 had direct flights from Malabo to Madrid via a

wetlease Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, as well as to provide ...

agreement with

White Airways White Airways S.A. (also known as White) is a Portuguese charter airline and ACMI airline headquartered in Porto Salvo, Oeiras. It mainly operates charter flights from Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport on behalf of tour operators as well as on ...

. As of 2024, the airline is on the

list of air carriers banned in the European Union The European Union (EU) publishes a list of air carriers that are banned from entering the airspace of any of its member states, usually for failing to meet EU regulatory oversight standards. The first version of the list was published in 200 ...

This route continues under a wet-lease agreement with

Wamos Air Wamos Air, formerly named Pullmantur Air, is a Spanish charter airline headquartered in Madrid. It mostly operates leisure charter flights from its main base at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport and also operates aircraft for other entities ...

Destinations

CEIBA Intercontinental flies to the following destinations as of October 2023:

Fleet

As of August 2018, CEIBA Intercontinental operated the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents

CEIBA Intercontinental had two notable aviation accidents involving

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

s: * 5 September 2015 – a

Boeing 737-800 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a twinjet, twin-engine narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third-generation derivative of the Boeing 737, it ha ...

, operating as Flight 071 from

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

Cotonou Cotonou (; ) is the largest city in Benin. Its official population count was 679,012 inhabitants in 2012; however, over two million people live in the larger urban area. The urban area continues to expand, notably toward the west. The city lies ...

, collided with a HS-125

air ambulance Air medical services are the use of aircraft, including both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to provide various kinds of urgent medical care, especially prehospital, emergency and critical care to patients during aeromedical evacuation an ...

flying from

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou or Wagadugu (, , , ) is the capital city of Burkina Faso, and the administrative, communications, cultural and economic centre of the nation. It is also the List of cities in Burkina Faso#Largest cities, country's largest city, wi ...

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

, to

. The Boeing 737 diverted to

where it landed safely. The air ambulance apparently suffered a decompression incident and is believed to have crashed in the Atlantic Ocean. * 29 August 2024 – the same as aircraft as above, now registered in Ethiopia as ET-AWR, was operating as Flight 205, from

Bata Airport Bata Airport is an airport serving Bata in Litoral, Equatorial Guinea. It is the second largest airport in Equatorial Guinea after Malabo International Airport. Overview The airport is north of Bata and south of Utonde. It has a 3310-metr ...

, Equatorial Guinea to Malabo, overran the runway after landing in heavy rain. The aircraft was substantially damaged, but all passengers and crew were evacuated via the emergency slides injury-free.

References

External links

* * {{African Airlines Association Airlines of Equatorial Guinea Airlines established in 2007 Airlines banned in the European Union Malabo 2007 establishments in Africa