“They simply went bust in a highly competitive and professional industry like a lot of other start up airlines have gone in the UK , the rest of Europe and the USA losing billions of their own money, not government money,” the Minister explained.

“It appears that some Sierra Leoneans are hostile to private investments like this; from the beginning a cross section of Sierra Leoneans in the UK gave bad publicity to the venture and said they would not use it and that they preferred Air France, Brussels Airlines and Royal Air Maroc. At least FlySalone tried and has now failed due to lack of patronage by Sierra Leoneans,” the clearly disappointed Transport Minister observed.

Minister Logus Koroma says there are no immediate plans to salvage Fly Salone and that the government “will not be interested in this kind of specialised business.”