The last flight of Air Senegal International (ASI) touched down in Dakkar on April 24, grinding to a halt the operations of this joint venture between Moroccan national airline company Royal Air Maroc (RAM) and the Senegalese government. Once an inspiring success story of cooperation, ASI’s mounting troubles boiled over last month, when RAM was subpoenaed in a Senegalese court and the fleet of debt-ridden ASI aircraft relegated to a hangar in Dakkar. RAM announced in April its decision to immediately withdraw from the management and capital ownership of ASI, in spite of an earlier Senegalese court banning RAM from withdrawing from the joint venture pending an audit. “It is unacceptable that the Senegalese party… ask RAM to remain in the management of this company beyond 2009,” said RAM spokeswoman Habiba Laklalech. RAM executives pointed out that restarting the company would require a $37 million subsidy. The Senegalese administration, charged
