Ligne Aérienne du Roi Albert (LARA; "King Albert Airline") was a short-lived civilian airline in the Belgian Congo colony.

History

Belgium had set up the

SNETA The ''Syndicat national d'Etude des Transports Aériens'' ("National Union of Study of Aerial Transport"), known by its acronym SNETA, was a Belgian airline which operated from 1919 to 1923 in order to pioneer commercial aviation in Belgium. In 1923 ...

in 1919 to study the possibilities and options of civilian air transport. In Europe,

Sabena The ''Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne'' (French; ), better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its ba ...

was created as a result, in their African colony the Belgians created CENAC (''Comité d' Etude pour la Navigation Aérienne du Congo''), which would evolve into the Ligne Aerienne du Roi Albert, so named after

Albert I of Belgium Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934. Born in Brussels as the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-S ...

who was a driving force behind the project in 1920. The possibility of exploiting an aerial route along the

Congo River The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...

was studied under the leadership of Emile Allard, civil engineer, and Mr Michaux, a military officer.

Routes and Destinations

The airline had only a short life, first opening a leg 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 ...

(formerly Leopoldville) to Ngombe on July 1, 1920. The second leg, from Gombe to

Lisala Lisala is the capital of the Mongala Province in northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Congo River flows through the city. Its Cathédrale Saint-Hermès is the cathedral episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lisala. It is ...

was opened on March 3, 1921. On July 1, 1921, exactly one year after the initial flight, the entire route from Kinshasa to

Kisangani Kisangani (formerly Stanleyville or Stanleystad) is the capital of Tshopo province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the fifth most populous urban area in the country, with an estimated population of 1,312,000 in 2021, and the larg ...

() was finally opened, but operations were discontinued on June 7, 1922. * Leopoldville * Ngombe *

* Stanleyville

Fleet

* Levy Lepen hydroplane LARA operated six French-built Levy Lepen HB2 hydroplanes upstream along the

. This choice was dictated by the absence of any landing sites along the route. The aircraft were also used to photograph and map the area. The airline was the very first one set-up by a European colonial power overseas. In total were covered during the airline's short life, amounting to 80 round trips, carrying 95 passengers and 2 tons of mail.

Demise

After its demise in 1922, a Congo local network was set up in 1925 by

, operating Handley-Page W8 trimotors, followed by a regular Belgium-Congo link in 1935 using Fokker VIIs.

References

External links

Encyclopedia of African airlines by Ben R. Guttery
pp. 42 Defunct airlines of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Belgian Congo Kisangani Transport in Kinshasa Airlines established in 1920 1920 establishments in the Belgian Congo Airlines disestablished in 1922 1922 disestablishments in Africa {{africa-airline-stub