Anyone have any info on Djibouti Airlines

[numbawan]

I have heard that Djibouti Airlines (or Djiboutia) are expanding.
According to a highly respected (and expensive) industry data base - they do not own any aircraft (yet) I am assuming they have plans to acquire aircraft and start scheduled services. Any info would be helpful? I understand the carrier is privately owned.

[JW411]

Have you ever been to Djibouti?

[numbawan]

I have only flown over it on the way to Somalia many moons ago.
I was on a DC8F with 30 tons of equipment for Mogadishu - we could not raise anyone in the area (ATC) I was working as a "kicker" /load master.
Its well known to be a $$$$hole.

[brakedwell]

I used to night stop in Djibouti in the late seventies when we operated the Air France East African cargo schedules with DC8's. It was a surprisingly pleasant town, very French and very friendly. The Foreign Legion could still be based there.

[pzu]

From another forum an Aeronexus B767-200 is at JNB being prepped for lease to Djibouti

PZU - Out of Africa (Retired)

[A-3TWENTY]

ARGH !!!! God Damned!!!

[Agaricus bisporus]

Hard to see how an "airline" with no aircraft can do anything but expand, really, but good luck.

A while since I've been there, but at last sight Djibouti really is a reasonably pleasant town with strong French influence (it has French branded supermarches full of real French goods) tho is part African, part Arabic historically. It has excellent nightlife, bars and restaurants, the most beautiful whores in the world, is hotter than anywhere else you've ever been and is rather scruffy and dusty. Don't expect clean streets or orderly traffic, it is unvarnished Africa. In the early morning it smells of croissants and sewers in equal measure. In short, its a great place if you approach it with an open mind but not very large, and there's nothing, and I mean Nothing for hundreds of miles around it unless you like camels (which I'm told are safer than the whores, tho obviously less attractive. Well, at first, anyway.) Don't expect skyscrapers, parks, green grass and country clubs like Nairobi, Djibouti is a uniform shade of beige. There is a decent, nay, lovely beach in a rocky cove a 30 minute drive out of town, but the Red Sea is full of sharks, the Foreign Legion used to have an armed RIB on shark patrol there at weekends. There is a big international military presence inc Foreign Legion. As all Western goods are imported prices are pretty fierce, there is virtually nothing that is not obtainable in the shops, and I suspect nothing whatsoever that isn't traded there too. Expats seem to go troppo there after a while, you can't get away easily unless you like desert. And the heat! And flies!


The mil/civ airport is of full international standard with radar and all services. The best in that corner of Africa when I was there, far better than Nairobi and somewhat better than Addis. That did not stop the familiar African nonsense of being held for half an hour 50 miles out because the President (a real African tinpot dictator) was inbound. And sod your fuel state!

Personally after 5 days I'd had enough, but always looked forward to the next trip.

[numbawan]

Thanks Agaricus and everyone for the info on Djibouti
Rest assured I am not thinking of working there - just trying to find out about this carrier for other reasons...which I will not go into just now.
Thanks again - sounds like quite a pleasant stop over but I will not make any immediate plans for a visit. Disregard my comment re $$$hole - I was clearly misinformed.: