Founded in 2014, the state-owned flag carrier for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo Airways, is a comparatively new player that connects various domestic destinations. The Kinshasa-based airline only began operating less than eight years ago and, according to ch-aviation, is one of the six active scheduled carriers; there are plenty of other airlines registered as passenger charters or start-ups rather than active scheduled airlines.
A Brief History
A year after the 2013 collapse of Lignes Aériennes Congolaises (Congolese Airlines – 4V), the local government wanted to establish a new national carrier. Acquiring two Airbus A320ceo from Alitalia, Congo Airways took to the skies for the first time on October 20, 2015. From its base in the capital city of Kinshasa, the young airline initially offered regional services not only to several cities within the country but also to Johannesburg, South Africa, and Douala, Cameroon.
Long-term expansion plans in the late 2010s, as reported by an article on ch-aviation, included a more robust African route network to destinations such as Pointe-Noire, Luanda, Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Lagos, and Abidjan. Norbert Sengamali, Director of Sales and Marketing for Congo Airways, also spoke of plans to go further afield to Dubai and Guangzhou with widebody airliners.
Unfortunately, airline operations worldwide came to a halt in March 2020, and African carriers were not spared. At the tail end of 2020, Congo Airways re-opened its route to Johannesburg, though it has again since been stopped; you can still attempt to book a flight from Kinshasa to South Africa on their site, but it will return no results.
Current Fleet
9S-AKD and 9S-ALU are the two previously-mentioned A320-200s which still fly for the airline today. After rolling out of production, they were delivered to Air One in early 2008, a carrier that merged into Alitalia in 2009. There’s also a pair of DHC-8-Q400s, 9S-AAN, and 9S-AKV, delivered new to Air Niugini in 2010 but acquired by Congo Airways in April 2016 to better serve their ten destinations.
In 2019, the airline announced a purchase of two Embraer E175s to eventually replace their Dash 8s, but they later swapped these orders for two new E190-E2s. However, they increased their Embraer order to encompass a pair of ERJ 190-300s and a couple of ERJ 190-400s.
This has been the case for some time, as over a year ago, Simple Flying reported Congo Airways might have been debating canceling the order altogether in favor of the Airbus A220. Yet, their listing on ch-aviation remains unchanged today, with the Embraer aircraft now half a year past expected delivery. Only time can tell which manufacturer’s jets the Congolese carrier will take delivery of.
Route Network
Despite Congo Airways’ previous network, including multiple international African destinations, their website currently only features flights within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These cities dotted across the country include their base in Kinshasa as well as Lubumbashi, Goma, Mbujimayi, Kisangani, Kananga, Mbandaka, Gemena, Kindu, Bunia, and Isiro. Perhaps adding new aircraft will facilitate the reintroduction of their former international routes, along with new destinations.
Source: simpleflying.com