Air Africa was an airline based in Kahemba Airport,

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

. The airline started flights in 1991 with a few destinations, operated by

Moscow Airways Moscow Airways was a Russian airline that was formed as a subsidiary of Aeroflot to operate the airline's fleet of Ilyushin Il-62s. History It began operating in 1991, flying passengers and cargo, airfreight. Among the airline's destinati ...

, but closed in 1996 after the

1996 Air Africa crash The 1996 Air Africa crash occurred on 8 January when an overloaded Zairese Air Africa's Antonov An-32B aircraft, bound for Kahemba Airport, overshot the runway at N'Dolo Airport in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) a ...

Fleet

Destinations

N'Dolo Airport N'Dolo Airport , also known as Ndolo Airport, is a secondary airport in the city of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in the commune of Barumbu near the city center. The ''Aviation militaire de la Force Publique'' was establish ...

* Kahemba Airport

Accident

On 8 January 1996, an Air Africa

Antonov An-32 The Antonov An-32 ( NATO reporting name: Cline) is a turboprop twin-engined military transport aircraft. Design and development The An-32 is essentially a re-engined An-26. It is designed to withstand adverse weather conditions better than the ...

aircraft (RA-26222) which had been

wet-lease Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide tempora ...

d by Moscow Airways to

Scibe Airlift Scibe Airlift was an airline from Zaire (today known as Democratic Republic of the Congo), with its base at N'Djili Airport, Kinshasa. History The airline started activities in November 1976 as SBZ Cargo with a single Vickers Viscount. Due to pr ...

crashed into a market shortly after taking off from

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

, capital of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, killing approximately 300 people (''see

''). At the time, the

Russian Ministry of Transport The Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation (russian: Министерство транспорта Российской Федерации) is a ministry of the Government of Russia responsible for transportation. The Ministry of Transpo ...

had "suspended or withdrawn" Moscow Airways' air operator's license.

References

1991 establishments in Zaire Airlines established in 1991 1996 disestablishments in Africa Airlines disestablished in 1996 Defunct airlines of the Democratic Republic of the Congo {{DRCongo-stub