Affretair (National Cargo Airline of Zimbabwe) was a cargo

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

based in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

History

Affretair was formed as a

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

-based associate company of

Air Trans Africa Air Trans Africa was formed by Jack Malloch in 1964 after his first company, Rhodesian Air Services failed in 1962. It operated a Super Constellation, a Douglas C-54 and a DH114 Heron aircraft. The airline's financial crises were compounded whe ...

, when a

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in Ju ...

aircraft was acquired in the early 1970s for overseas freight operations. This was part of the

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

n "sanctions-busting" operations, where

Rhodesian Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

high-quality beef was flown by

Douglas DC-7 The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the ear ...

F to Gabon by Air Trans Africa, and then carried by Affretair to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. In the 1980s Affretair operated two

-50F aircraft on cargo flights to Europe and within

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. It was taken over by

Air Zimbabwe Air Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd (operating as Air Zimbabwe) is the national carrier of Zimbabwe, headquartered on the property of Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, in Harare. From its hub at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, the carr ...

in 1983. In August 1997 it was reported that Affretair's Douglas DC-8 had been grounded the previous month as it no longer met required international standards and would no longer be allowed to land at some airports in Europe. The

an government stepped in to save Affretair from collapse by facilitating a multimillion-dollar deal with a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

aviation company, Aviation Star, which leased a

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

to replace the no-longer compliant DC-8. By 1998 Affretair was (according to their website) flying a Douglas DC-8-73F into Europe using

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

as a hub and a

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

freighter to

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

Lilongwe Lilongwe (, , ) is the capital and most populated city of the African country of Malawi. It has a population of 989,318 as of the 2018 Census, up from a population of 674,448 in 2008. In 2020 that figure was 1,122,000. The city is located in th ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

and

Luanda Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...

. Affretair was liquidated in 2000 under a $511 million debt that had grounded its only aircraft for close to two years. In October 2001 it was reported that Affretair, currently under liquidation, was selling its assets to raise money to offset its mounting $800 million debt owed to several creditors.

Accidents and incidents

*On 29 June 1969, an Affretair

Douglas C-54 Skymaster The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian a ...

( registered TR-LNV) crashed shortly after take-off from an airstrip in

Uli, Nigeria Uli is a town of historic importance situated at the extreme southeast corner of Ihiala local government area of Anambra state in Nigeria. Its closest neighbouring towns are Amaofuo, Ihiala, Amorka, Ubulu, Ozara, Egbuoma and Ohakpu. Uli t ...

. *On 28 February 1982, a parked Affretair

Canadair CL-44 The Canadair CL-44 was a Canadian turboprop airliner and cargo aircraft based on the Bristol Britannia that was developed and produced by Canadair in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although innovative, only a small number of the aircraft were ...

(registered TR-LVO) was destroyed in a fire at

Harare International Airport Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport , (known colloquially as "RGM", or Mugabe Airport) formerly known as the ''Harare International Airport'', is an international airport in Harare, Zimbabwe. It is the largest airport in the country and ...

. *On 28 January 1996, an Affretair

(registered Z-WSB) was damaged beyond repair when it overran the runway upon landing at Harare Airport following a cargo flight from

References

External links

Robin Norton's Aviation Diary
for early 1970s photographs of Air Trans Africa and Affretair. {{Commons category, Affretair Airlines established in 1965 Airlines disestablished in 2000 Defunct cargo airlines Airlines of Rhodesia Defunct airlines of Zimbabwe 1965 establishments in Rhodesia 2000 disestablishments in Zimbabwe Cargo airlines of Zimbabwe