Corsair International (SS, Paris Orly) has announced its return to Mali with the reopening of a seasonal route between Paris Orly and Bamako this summer despite the ongoing political standoff between the West African country and its former colonial power following a military coup in August 2020.

From June 16 to September 18, 2022, flights will be operated 3x weekly with a 352-seater A330-300 in a three-class configuration, the airline said in a statement, citing travel demand as the reason for reinstating the route, previously served between January 30, 2018, and September 15, 2019.

Air France resumed its services to Mali in mid-February after it suspended flights to Bamako on January 10, a day after the members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed trade sanctions on Mali, culminating in a reciprocal closure of land and air borders between members states and its rogue neighbour. At issue is Mali's military-led transitional government's postponement of democratic elections for up to five years, despite promising to hold a vote by February 2022.

The junta led by Colonel Assimi Goita in August 2020 had overthrown elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita who was facing internal unrest over his failure to deal with an armed Islamist insurgency. The coup was a blow to France's President Emmanuel Macron who had supported Keita.

By February this year, Mali had expelled France’s ambassador amid mounting tension over its decision to deploy Russian mercenaries to train Malian forces.

Last week, a British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) flight en-route between London Heathrow and Accra, Ghana, was forced to turn back mid-air due to renewed overflight restrictions over Mali. At this stage, flights to or from aerodromes in ECOWAS remain banned from overflying Mali until May 8, 2022.

Meanwhile, Corsair also operates regular flights from Paris Orly, Marseilles, Lyon St. Exupéry, and Nantes to the Caribbean (Pointe à Pitre, Fort de France, and Punta Cana), the Indian Ocean (St. Denis de la Réunion, Mauritius, and Dzaoudzi), Africa (Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire), and Canada (Montréal Trudeau).

Corsair's fleet of ten aircraft includes four A330-300s, four A330-900Ns, one A330-200, and a single B737-800 wet-leased from Air Austral (UU, St. Denis de la Réunion), the ch-aviation fleets module reveals.