An official correspondence dated June 15 has announced that Air France will cease all operations at its local office in Mali, effective June 30, 2026.
The decision formalizes the commercial withdrawal of a historical player in the country’s aviation sector, following several years disrupted by flight suspensions and postponed resumptions on the Paris-Bamako route. The letter from Air France, addressed to the management of its local partner ATS, was signed by Awa Traoré Diakité, Air France’s Country Manager for Mali. The document formally confirms the closure of the local corporate office and expresses the airline’s gratitude to its partners for their cooperation over the years.
Air France specified that all future assistance requests from travel agencies must be routed through its dedicated online portal, the Help Desk AGV. This shift confirms a transition toward remote account management, drawing the curtain on decades of physical presence in Bamako. The closure follows a gradual scaling back of Air France’s operational footprint in the Malian market. Prior to the suspension of its flights on August 7, 2023, the carrier operated seven weekly flights to Bamako, compared to five to Ouagadougou and four to Niamey. These routes were halted following the closure of Nigerien airspace and deteriorating geopolitical conditions across the Sahel region.
The Bamako route had already undergone several adjustments before the final disruption. During a previous resumption of operations in February 2022, Air France operated a daily flight between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Bamako using a Boeing 777-200ER, offering a capacity of 280 to 312 seats depending on the configuration. This represented between 1,960 and 2,184 seats per week on the Paris-Bamako leg, totaling more than 4,000 round-trip seats. In October 2023, the airline had planned a partial resumption featuring three direct flights per week between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Bamako, operated via a Boeing 777-200ER wet-leased from EuroAtlantic Airways. However, Malian authorities maintained the suspension during their review of the file, accusing Air France of unilaterally halting its flights.
At the group level, Air France-KLM reported a revenue of €33 billion in 2025, with an operating profit exceeding €2 billion. The Africa region, excluding North Africa and the Middle East, generated €3.49 billion in revenue, highlighting that the closure of the Bamako branch occurs within an African market that remains commercially significant for the carrier. For travel agencies, business partners, and regular passengers on the Paris-Bamako route, this closure marks a major turning point. It seals the disappearance of a local anchor that had accompanied Air France’s presence in Mali for decades, in an aviation landscape now reshaped by diplomatic tensions, security constraints, and the rise of competing carriers on international routes serving the country.
MD/te/Sf/lb/abj/APA