Congo Airways (8Z, Kinshasa N'Djili) has been officially incorporated as a company following a signing ceremony held in Kinshasa on August 15. Among the various government bureaucrats who attended the event were Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo, and Minister of Transport, Justin Kalumba, alongside representatives from Air France (AF, Paris CDG) and the French ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The airline is backed by CDF32.5billion (USD35.34million) in start-up capital with Air France Consulting acting in an advisory role. Shareholders include various Congolese parastatals such as: the Office of Multimodal Freight Management (Ogefrem); the National Institute for Social Security (NISS); the local civil aviation authority (Régie des Voies Aériennes - RVA); the local mining consortium (Gecamines); the Congolese Transportation and Ports Authority (SCTP); and the local investment promotion authority (Front de Promotion de l’investissement - FPI).
Kinshasa is hoping for an operational launch before year-end and is hoping to use the airline as a means of improving its international image which has been severely damaged by a spate of serious air crashes spanning the last twenty years.
On the project's unveiling in April, Kalumba said government would take a phased approach to the launch of operations with 'modern' aircraft to be sourced for domestic routes initially, followed by regional routes and lastly international routes.
Africa is currently seeing a surge in government-backed Public-Private Partnership national carriers.
Following in the wake of Malawi and Malawi Airlines (3W, Lilongwe), the Ivory Coast with Air Côte d'Ivoire (HF, Abidjan), and Togo with ASKY Airlines (KP, Lomé), so Ghana has now appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers (US) to advise it on plans to launch its own national airline by March 2015. PwC will also help the government to choose a private sector partner to help launch the new carrier which will replace Accra's last venture into the airline business, Ghana Airways (Accra).
