Fresh Air 500s: Tristars in the Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo is a huge nation of much promise that has been mired in regional conflict, corruption and crimes of the worst kinds pretty much ever since the Belgians set foot in it. It is no surprise therefore that airline operations within such an environment have themselves been challenging. Hewa Bora Airways briefly seemed like a way forward, but as with so many African national carriers its history is a mess. Nice Tristar though!

Hewa Bora Airways Lockheed L-1011-385-500 Tristar 9Q-CHC Blue Box 1:400 Scale Model Airliner

Hewa Bora Airways was the national carrier of the DRC for nearly 20 years. It was formed in 1994 from the merger of several smaller Zairean airlines including Shabair (formed in 1984) and Zaire Express. By this time the national airline Air Zaire was in dire financial straits and in fact it was declared bankrupt by a court in Brussels on June 12, 1995. Another major Zairean airline, Scibe Airlift, which was owned by a family member of Zaire's military dictator Mobuto Sese Seko lasted itself only until 1998; no doubt helped on its way by Mobuto's overthrow and death a year earlier by forces loyal to Laurent-Desire Kabila. I should note that Mobuto died of Cancer rather than being strung up as he deserved, since he was truly an awful awful human being.

Before 1997 Hewa Bora was known as Zaire Airlines but following the overthrow of Mobuto the country regained its earlier title of the Congo and the carrier was suitably renamed Congo Airlines. Sadly far from bringing about stability the end of the Mobuto regime led to a series of Civil Wars that devastated the already impoverished country, involved no less than 9 African nations, UN Peacekeepers and 20 armed groups and led to the deaths of over 5.4 million people. Ironically given its natural resources the Congo ought to be wealthy but history has seen that isn't the case!

Kabila was assassinated in 2001 but this event led to peace talks and so it was suitable that Congo Airlines was that year renamed as Hewa Bora Airways. The name literally means 'Fresh Air' in the local Swahili language. For the next few years relative peace reigned and this gave Hewa Bora the chance to operate more like the national carrier it had become. An ex-Delta Airlines Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 500 had joined the rather hotchpotch fleet of 707s, 727s and DC-8 freighters in December 2000. She was registered 9Q-CHA and began service on the important Kinshasa-Brussels route. Unfortunately in what was to become an all too familar pattern she was written off after only a few years. She was damaged beyond repair on August 8, 2002 in a hard landing at Kinshasa and broken up in 2004. The return to Kinshasa had been caused by a failure of the centre engine and the resulting landing blew all the tyres.

Fortunately Hewa Bora was able to continue its long-haul operations as it had acquired a second Tristar 500 from Delta. In fact Delta would be a source of several 727-200s also. This Tristar was registered as 9Q-CHC but had originally been delivered to Air Canada on May 14, 1981 as C-GAGI. Sold to Delta in April 1992 she was reregistered as N767DA and served a further 8 years before storage and sale to the Congo. She operated her first service to Brussels on August 17, 2002 and was used primarily on this service for nearly 5 years until being withdrawn on January 28, 2007. Interestingly Hewa Bora competed on this route with Brussels Airlines new Airbus A330s.

The Delta ancestry of this 727 is clear to see

By 2007 Hewa Bora had been receiving the kind of attention that no airline wants. On March 22, 2006 its entire fleet, except for the Tristar, was banned from European airspace due to safety concerns. Since only the Tristar ventured near Europe this was largely academic, but still not a good look. In February 2007 Hewa Bora had acquired an ex-Air Gabon 767-266ER, 9Q-COG, and this airframe swapped with the Tristar to become the allowed EU operational aircraft. 9Q-CHC was retired at Kinshasa and remained there in storage as of 2012. The 767 introduced a new logo and colour scheme for the airline but it was to be a rather false beginning.

By this time Congo was devolving into Civil War once again, stoked by the Rwandans, and this can't have assisted Hewa Bora's attempts to run an airline. The 767 was sold (though seemingly subsequently leased back) and on April 11, 2008 the entire airline was therefore banned from operating in the EU. The 767 kept open the route to Johannesburg into 2010 but by July 2010 was stored at Miami.

Hewa Bora has to date been the last Congolese airline that has operated to Europe. Instead a codeshare was setup with Brussels Airlines but this disintegrated in 2009 and for a short time a RAK Airways 757 was wet-leased to once again reopen the Brussels route, also stopping at Paris. This didn't last and Hewa Bora itself gradually began to collapse, suffering 3 major crashes between April 2008 and July 2011. The last accident, involving 727-100 9Q-COP, led to the suspension of the airline's air operating certificate and the deaths of 74 people.

The aftermath of the crash of DC-9-51 9Q-CHN at Goma, April 2008. 40 Fatalities

In March 2012 FlyCongo was formed from the ashes of Hewa Bora Airways (and even got the 767 back) but it lasted only until October when it merged with Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation (CAA). This airline, which has been operating since 1991, nowadays only operates domestic flights with a fairly modern fleet of A320s and Fokker 50s; however as with all Congolese airlines it is still banned from Europe and indeed even failed to keep its traffic rights to South Africa.

References

Wikipedia - Hewa Bora Airways
Aviation Safety Network - Hewa Bora Airways
Ending Extreme Poverty in the Congo - Congo's Hewa Bora Banned by the EU
RZJets.net - Hewa Bora