Air Afrique
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Air Afrique | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| IATA RK |
ICAO RKA |
Callsign AIR AFRIQUE |
| Founded | 1961 | |
| Ceased operations | 2002 | |
| Fleet size | ||
| Destinations | ||
| Headquarters | Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire | |
| Key people | ||
Air Afrique was based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, and was established as the official transnational carrier for francophone West Africa.
Contents |
[edit] History
Air Afrique was founded on March 28, 1961. Its main shareholders at the time were Air France, Union Aéromaritime de Transport (UAT), Société pour le Développement du Transport Aérien en Afrique (SODETRAF) and the following West African countries:
- Benin
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Congo-Brazzaville
- Gabon
- Ivory Coast
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Niger
- Republic of Upper Volta (today called Burkina Faso)
- Senegal.
Cameroon and Gabon withdrew from the consortium in the early 1970s, while Togo joined in January 1968.
UAT passed on its stake in Air Afrique to UTA, following its merger with Compagnie de Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux (TAI) in 1963. UTA's stake in turn passed into the hands of Air France, when that airline acquired a controlling stake in its erstwhile rival in 1990.
The objective was the creation of a comprehensive network of internal air services within the countries that co-owned Air Afrique as well as international air services within Africa and beyond.
The newly formed multinational airline commenced commercial operations in August 1961 with Douglas C-54/DC-4 and Douglas DC-6 piston-engined equipment.
Air Afrique launched its first intercontinental, long-haul scheduled service to Paris (operated with Lockheed Constellations) during its first year of operation itself. The airline's long-haul scheduled services also served other major French cities such as Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse and Bordeaux, as well as Rome Fiumicino in Italy, Geneva in Switzerland and New York JFK in the US. During the 1980s there was a short-lived service to London Gatwick in the UK as well.
A leased Douglas DC-8 was the first jet aircraft to join Air Afrique's fleet in 1962.
In 1973 the airline acquired its first widebody, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 30 series. From October 1980 to March 1984 a Boeing 747 was operated as well. A number of Airbus A310 and Airbus A300-600s were used from the late 1980s onwards.
In addition, the company's fleet included the Airbus A300 B4 series, Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle 10B/11R series, Antonov An-12, Boeing 737 200/300 series as well as the Boeing 707 320C series freighter.
In 2001, the African governments, which originally owned 68% of the company, sold almost two thirds of their combined shareholding in Air Afrique to Air France and other, private investors in exchange for a $69 million investment in the ailing airline. Air Afrique eventually folded later the same year with debts of US$500 mn and three operational aircraft.[1]
[edit] Incidents and accidents
On July 24, 1987, Hussein Mohammed Hariri, a man claiming to be a member of Hezbollah, hijacked an Air Afrique DC-10 en route from Rome to Paris. He demanded to be flown to Beirut and, as a sign of his determination, murdered a French passenger, one of 148 passengers on board the flight. He also seriously wounded an flight attendant who attempted to overpower him.
[edit] Destinations
[edit] Africa
[edit] Asia
[edit] Southwest Asia
[edit] Europe
[edit] North America
[edit] Fleet
[edit] Notes
- ^ A striking end for Air Afrique – by BBC Africa analyst Elizabeth Blunt, 26 November 2001
- ^ a b "Africa's springtime of hope." The Washington Times.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Home Page as of September 5, 2000. Air Afrique.
- ^ Liberia: Air Afrique resumes flights.
- ^ "SENEGAL HAILS VENDOR HOME FROM 5TH AVE.." The New York Times.
- ^ a b "A filthy lobby, sullen-faced employees, no place to sit, and a vague sense of danger all add up to the World's Worst Airport.". "Ask the Pilot." Salon. 2.
- ^ "[http://web.archive.org/web/20000829121843/http://www.airafrique-airlines.com/RKNAIRO.html COMING INTO NAIROBI VERY SOON !]." Air Afrique.
[edit] References
- Google Groups - History of Air Afrique
- "Flight International" . Reed Business Information. ISSN 0015-3710. (various backdated issues relating to Air Afrique, 1961-2001)
[edit] External links
- Air Afrique official website at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine
- Rescue plan for Air Afrique BBC
- Air Afrique's Fall to Earth; Politics Has Bankrupted the Soaring Dream of 11 African Nations
- INTERNATIONAL REPORT; Air Afrique Warns Debtors
- African Airlines Go Trans-Atlantic
- Marie Louise GUEYE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AIR AFRIQUE, Defendant-Appellee
- Leonard TCHOKPONHOVE, Plaintiff, v. AIR AFRIQUE, Defendant.
