Maroua Transportation

Air travel to and from Cameroon's northern provinces has been in flux ever since the collapse of Air Cameroun several years ago. I had a very hard time obtaining information about current service on the Internet in May, 2010, as most of the little information one can find is outdated. After much wasted time, I finally found that current service was provided by a company called Air Leasing, which is also a charter operator. Efforts to make a reservation by phone were unsuccessful because of the language problem; the person who answered spoke no English. There is no office in the airport, but I was finally able to obtain a ticket to Maroua by visiting the airline's office at 144 avenue de l'indépendance, a kilometer or so from the airport. You'll need a knowledgeable taxi driver to find it. The staff member on duty did speak some English, and I was able to obtain a ticket. Be prepared, however. They have the only service, and the prices are quite high. The airline's web site shows pictures of a luxurious plane--probably the one used for charters, but the service was actually on an ancient vintage 737-200, evidently leased from Trans Air Congo. Still, the service was fine and the flight to Maroua was uneventful. Unlike Douala, Maroua has a modern and clean airport. The return trip began uneventfully, but we were diverted in flight from Yaoundé to Douala because the President had chosen this time to depart from the Yaoundé airport, and no one is allowed to land. (His travel schedule is never announced in advance.) To their credit, Air Leasing made the best of a bad situation and had a good quality charter bus (with on board snack and drinks no less!) available for the four hour trip back to Yaoundé within an hour. Another passenger told me that this was the last flight for the Trans Air Congo plane and the service would now be flown again on Air Leasing's charter jets, but I do not know whether this has occurred. The Air Leasing web site indicates that they still have the service.