L1011 Hewa Bora Airways 9Q-CHA BRU July 2002

2011-06-28 12-54-36 South Africa - Bonaero Park 9Q-COZ

Hewa Bora Airways Sarl (operating as Hewa Bora Airways) was the

national airline A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

based in

Barumbu Barumbu is a commune in the Lukunga District of Kinshasa, located strategically in the northern region of the city. As of 2015, Barumbu had an estimated population of 413,628, making it one of Kinshasa's more densely populated communes. Historic ...

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ), formerly named Léopoldville from 1881–1966 (), is the Capital city, capital and Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-grow ...

, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was one of Congo's largest airlines and operated regional and domestic services. Its main base was

N'djili Airport N'djili Airport ( ), also known as N'Djili International Airport and Kinshasa International Airport (French language, French ''Aéroport international de N'Djili'' or ''Aéroport international de Kinshasa''), serves the city of Kinshasa and is ...

. "''Hewa bora''" is

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

for "fresh air". The company slogan was ''N°1 in Democratic Republic of the Congo.'' Hewa Bora Airways had 1,100 employees in March 2007. Operations were suspended after the 2011 crash of Hewa Bora Airways Flight 952, and the airline is now defunct. The remains of the business were taken over by a new airline, FlyCongo, which in turn merged with the

Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation, branded as flyCAA, is a regional airline from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, based at N'djili Airport in Kinshasa.

only six months after it was started up.

History

The airline was established and started operations in 1998 with the joining together of Zaire Airlines, Zaire Express, and Congo Airlines. On 1 November 2007, HBA (51%) and

Brussels Airlines Brussels Airlines is the flag carrier and largest airline of Belgium, based and headquartered at Brussels Airport. It operates to over 100 destinations in Europe, North America and Africa and also offers charter services, maintenance and crew ...

subsidiary Pan African Airlines (49%) announced a new domestic partnership to be called

AirDC Korongo Airlines sprl (after the Swahili term for large migrating birds) was an airline from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), headquartered in Lubumbashi. It was founded on behalf of Brussels Airlines and other Belgian investors ...

, to operate

BAe 146 The British Aerospace 146 (also BAe 146) is a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2001. Avro International Aerospace manu ...

-200 and

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

aircraft, principally to

Lubumbashi Lubumbashi ( , ; former ; former ) is the second-largest Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in the country's southeasternmost part, along the border with Zambia. The capital ...

Mbuji-Mayi Mbuji-Mayi (formerly Bakwanga) is a city and the capital of Kasai-Oriental Province in the south-central Democratic Republic of Congo. It is thought to be the second largest city in the country, after the capital Kinshasa and ahead of Lubumbashi ...

Brazzaville Brazzaville () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo. Administratively, it is a Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department and a Communes of the Republic of the Congo, commune. Constituting t ...

, and

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. It was home to Central Africa's largest port, now being replaced by Kribi port. It has the country ...

. This project was cancelled because of disagreements between Brussels Airlines and Hewa Bora. On 15 December 2009, Brussels Airlines announced they were working on a new airline in the Congo. The airline's name was

Korongo Korongo Airlines sprl (after the Swahili term for large migrating birds) was an airline from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), headquartered in Lubumbashi. It was founded on behalf of Brussels Airlines and other Belgian investors ...

; it was launched without Hewa Bora and started operations during 2012, suspending all operations during 2015. On 24 June 2009, the new website of Hewa Bora Airways went online, after not having been updated since 2005. On 16 July 2011, the airline's

air operator's certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial air transport purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets and s ...

was suspended, following the accident that befell Flight 952 on 8 July 2011.

Blacklist

The entire Hewa Bora Airways fleet was blacklisted in European airspace. The

Lockheed L-1011-500 The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter commercial operations, after the Boeing 747 ...

and the

Boeing 767-200ER The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified ...

were the last planes accepted in Europe before new noise regulations and storage of the 767 definitively banned the airline. Hewa Bora Airways was the last airline allowed to operate from the Democratic Republic of the Congo into Europe.

FlyCongo

In March 2012, FlyCongo launched operations with the remains of Hewa Bora. It used the airline's previous

Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified ...

and

McDonnell Douglas MD-82 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gener ...

aircraft. It also announced it would be destroying six aircraft left behind by Hewa Bora to reduce safety concerns.

Destinations

Codeshare agreements

After a dispute with Brussels Airlines, Hewa Bora Airways decided to rescind the codeshare agreement between the two airlines and start their own flights to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. However, as Hewa Bora was banned from the European Union, they had to wet-lease a

RAK Airways RAK Airways was an airline based in Ras Al Khaimah, one of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates.Boeing 757-200 The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the trijet 727, received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its maiden ...

to operate the flights. For a short time, the airline flew twice weekly Kinshasa-Brussels-Paris-Brussels-Kinshasa. Such flights were discontinued due to the EU's total ban of Hewa Bora operations. It then became impossible for Hewa Bora to fly to the EU.

Fleet

Hewa Bora Airways Boeing 767-200ER S9-TOP BRU 2009-10-25

The Hewa Bora Airways fleet included the following aircraft when it suspended operations:

Retired fleet

Hewa Bora 9Q-CHK at Kinshasa International Airport

Hewa Bora Airways also operated these aircraft prior to ceasing operations:

Incidents and accidents

*On 15 April 2008,

Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122 On 15 April 2008, Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 plane crashed into a residential and market area of Goma of the Democratic Republic of the Congo immediately south of Goma International Airport. Background The easte ...

crashed into a residential and market area of

Goma Goma is a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the North Kivu, North Kivu Province; it is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu and shares borders with the Bukumu Chiefdo ...

of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Forty people were killed, among them three passengers; 111 people were injured, including 40 passengers. *On 21 June 2010, Hewa Bora Airways Flight 601, operating a

9Q-COQ, burst a tyre on take-off from

. Hydraulic systems and the port engine were damaged and the nose gear failed to lower when the aircraft returned to N'djili. All 110 people on board escaped uninjured. The airline blamed the state of the runway for the accident, but investigators found no fault with the runway. *On 8 July 2011, Hewa Bora Airways Flight 952, a Boeing 727-100, crashed on landing at Kisangani Airport; 74 people were killed, whilst others survived the accident with severe burns.

References

External links

Hewa Bora Airways

Hewa Bora Airways

Hewa Bora Airways Fleet

Hewa Bora Airways
at the

Aviation Safety Network The Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) is a non-profit, international organization concerning research, education, advocacy, and communications in the field of aviation safety. FSF brings together aviation professionals to help solve safety problems ...

Database {{Airlines of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Defunct airlines of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Airlines established in 1994 Airlines disestablished in 2011 1994 establishments in Zaire