Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina has sacked Transport and Meteorology Minister Valéry Ramonjavelo following a scandal involving five Malagasy-registered B777-200ERs that were transferred from Cambodia to Iran in breach of international sanctions.
In a decree signed on July 29, seen by ch-aviation, the president gave no reasons for Ramonjavelo's immediate dismissal but temporarily appointed Prime Minister Christian Ntsay in his place until a new appointment is made.
Citing sources close to the government, the newspaper Midi-Madagasikara reported that Ramonjavelo had approved, without consulting the president or prime minister, the granting of temporary registrations in Madagascar of the five aircraft on behalf of a shadowy Malagasy startup, UDAAN Aviation.
However, as previously reported, the five B777s were ferried from Siem Reap New Angkor International to Iran on July 15, 2025. According to widespread media speculation, they were destined for Mahan Air (W5, Tehran Mehrabad), but this could not be independently verified.
The Malagasy Civil Aviation Authority (Aviation Civile de Madagascar - ACM) suggested that the aircraft were ferried on forged or expired documents as their three month Malagasy registration had expired on April 17, 2025, and no official documents were issued after this date.
The aircraft held the provisional Malagasy registrations 5R-RIS (msn 32334), 5R-ISA (msn 30866), 5R-HER (msn 28522), 5R-IJA (msn 28527), and 5R-RIJ (msn 33369).
In a statement, the ACM said the temporary Malagasy registrations had been issued "for the sole purpose of allowing the transfer of the aforementioned aircraft to Kenya for maintenance purposes." During the validity period they had been located at Lanzhou, China, it said.
"The use or reliance on these certificates beyond their validity date is null and void and is considered attempted forgery or use of forgery. In fact, the documents mentioned above were nevertheless used after their expiration date," it stated.
UDAAN Aviation, meanwhile, has been linked to corporate filings of Udaan Potentials Ltd in Madagascar (RCS Antananarivo 2023 B 00815) registered in June 2023 as a limited liability company (Société à Responsabilité Limitée - SARL). The nature of business is listed as commercial air services, MRO, public air transport, and cargo for the export of local products (spices, dried grains, sesame seeds, and agricultural products) and the import and sale of agricultural equipment and tractors.
