Air Afrique was a Pan-African airline, that was mainly owned by many West African countries for most of its history. It was established as the official transnational carrier for francophone West and Central Africa, because many of these countries did not have the capability to create and maintain a national airline, and had its headquarters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The carrier was a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as well as the French Union's smaller IATA-like ATAF.
Air Afrique began a steady decline in the early 1980s, yet many years later the company was still considered the most reputable carrier in West Africa, and even one of the top five airlines of Africa. Mismanagement, corruption, and the downturn in the aviation industry after the 11 September 2001 attacks led the airline to a crisis that ended with its liquidation in early 2002. Even though there were plans to revive the airline with the creation of a new company, they never materialised, as it was succeeded by short-lived Afrinat International Airlines.
History
The early years Air Afrique was originally conceived in as a joint subsidiary of Air France and Union Aéromaritime de Transport (UAT) to take over the regional services these airlines had operated in Africa. The new company was registered in September 1960 as Air Afrique (Société de Transports Aériens en Afrique). During the first conference of Francophone countries that was held in Abidjan in , the Ivorian president Felix Houphouët Boigny recommended the constitution of a multinational airline for these countries. Eleven heads of state that attended to the next conference, held at Brazzaville in the same year, agreed to form the company. Gambia, Ghana and Mali decided to stay away from the project, as they had plans for setting up their own airlines with aid from the Soviets. The formation of the company took place during the third conference, held at Yaoundé in early 1961: Air Afrique (Société de Transports Aériens en Afrique) changed its name to Société pour le Développement du Transport Aérien en Afrique (SODETRAF); the eleven countries and SODETRAF would set up the new airline. The Treaty of Yaoundé, signed on , founded Air Afrique as a joint venture between Air France and UAT, each of which had a 17% holding, while the eleven newly independent former French colonies in West Africa, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Mauritania, Niger, the Republic of the Congo and Senegal, contributed with the remaining 66% of the capital, estimated in 500 millions of CFA francs. Léopoldine Doualla-Bell Smith, a flight attendant, was invited to move to Air Afrique in 1960; she was then the only qualified African person in French aviation, and thus became the first employee hired by Air Afrique.
Cheikh Fall was appointed as the first CEO of the company on . It started operations on serving internal routes with 12 leased DC-4s from Air France and UAT. On , an Air France Lockheed Constellation that flew the Paris–Port Etienne–Dakar–Abidjan–Cotonou–Douala route on behalf of the company inaugurated the long-haul operations. Pressurised Douglas DC-6 aircraft were added to the fleet in the early 1960s, also leased from UAT. On , the carrier deployed Boeing 707s, leased from Air France, on the Paris–Dakar–Abidjan and the Paris–Douala–Brazzaville runs; these were the first jet aircraft introduced on the carrier's intercontinental routes. Two DC-8s were the first jets ordered by the airline in the same year. Also in 1962, the carrier became a member of the International Air Transport Association.
+Air Afrique founder/shareholder countriesCountryFromTo 19612002 19612002 19611971 19612002 19612002 19612002 19611976 2002 19612002 19612002 19612002 19612002 1978 19652002 In , Cheikh Fall was appointed general manager of the company. Union de Transports Aériens (UTA) was formed in from the merger of UAT and Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux (TAI). Following this, Air Afrique ownership was reorganised, with SODETRAF acquiring a 28% stake and the balance being held by the member states. The first DC-8 was delivered in , and entered service a month later; the second aircraft of the type was handed over in the next year, being deployed on the route to Marseille late that month. Air Afrique became the owner of its entire fleet in , following an agreement with UTA. Also in 1963, Hajj flights, carrying pilgrims to Mecca, commenced using the Starliner aircraft. In , Air Afrique was authorised to connect several African countries with the United States and in , the Paris–Abidjan run started calling at Geneva on a weekly basis.
By , Air Afrique had 2,500 employees. At this time, there were two DC-8-50s in service, along with three DC-4s and four DC-6s. That month, the route to Paris, already stopping at Dakar and Geneva, began calling at Robertsfield. A month later, Air Afrique passengers started flying to the United States allocated on Pan Am flights. Also in 1965, the company ordered two Caravelles; a third DC-8, a convertible (DC-8F) one that would be used to increase cargo capacity, was ordered in . In 1966, the DC-8F entered the fleet and the carrier started withdrawing the DC-6s from service. Togo became the state in joining the consortium in 1965, but it was not until 1968 that this country held a participation in the carrier. By the mid-1960s, the carrier took over the Air France and UTA maintenance facilities located at Dakar-Yoff Airport. There, the company carried out the maintenance for its aircraft (excluding the jet fleet) and also undertook maintenance works for foreign carriers, including Air Mauritanie and Air Senegal, and even for air forces of neighbour countries. Another maintenance centre was located at Douala Airport. However, major maintenance works were provided by UAT at Le Bourget Airport.
Air Afrique received two Caravelle 11Rs, a mixed passenger-cargo version of the Caravelle 10R, in . Two DC-4s were sold at the time in order for the company to afford the costs of these new aircraft. The Caravelles were deployed on African routes, replacing the DC-6s. In 1968, another DC-8-50 joined the fleet. By then, the route network included 22 African countries, along with Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nice and Paris in France, Geneva in Switzerland and New York in the United States (in agreement with Pan Am).
The 1970s
The company ordered two McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s in , boosting the order with one more aircraft of the type the same year. Amid increasing tourism in Africa, in the same year the airline acquired a 51% stake in Société de Développement Hôtelier & Touristique en Afrique d l'Ouest; Air Afrique also held interests in tourist agencies. At the same year, the number of employees was 3,370 and the aircraft park stood at three DC-8s, one DC-8F, two Caravelle 11Rs, one DC-3 and four DC-4s. In , a DC-8-63CF entered the fleet and two NAMC YS-11As were purchased; these turboprop airliners were transferred to Air Ivoire in 1972. Air Afrique started flights to New York in its own right in , using DC-8-63 aircraft. In the same year, Central African Republic's president Jean Bedel Bokassa stated that his country would leave the consortium to form their own airline, Air Centrafrique; the withdrawal plans were shelved. Shortly afterwards, Cameroon's president Ahmadou Ahidjo was discontented with the airline both for the lack of Cameroonians in top management positions and for the location of the head office in Abidjan, as Douala was the city with the highest traffic among the points served by the carrier in Africa at the time, and Ahidjo believed the head office should be located there. In , Cameroon withdrew its support from the consortium to run their own national carrier, Cameroon Airlines, which had been founded on . Ownership was reorganised following the Cameroon breakaway, with the remaining shareholder countries participating with 6.18% each and SODETRAF keeping a 28%.
During 1971, a third Caravelle was incorporated into the fleet, and the regional headquarters for Central Africa were moved from Douala, Cameroon to Libreville in Gabon. The move angered Chadian president François Tombalbaye, who also threatened to withdraw support to the multinational enterprise in 1972, something that finally did not occur. The carrier joined the Air France reservation system in 1973. The first wide-bodied DC-10-30, named ″Libreville″, was delivered on , arriving in Dakar on 2 March. Starting 13 March, the type replaced the DC-8s on the Paris–Bordeaux–Nouakchott–Dakar, Paris–Dakar–Abidjan, Paris–Fort Lamy–Bangui–Brazzaville, Paris–Marseille–Niamey–Cotonou–Abidjan routes in a gradual manner. Late in 1973, a fourth Caravelle was acquired from Royal Jordanian Airlines and a Douglas DC-8-55F entered the fleet. Cheikh Fall was succeeded by Aoussou Koffi at the head of the company in 1974.
At , the workforce had grown to 3,726 and the carrier's fleet comprised three Caravelles (one 10R and two 11Rs), one DC-3, five DC-8s (one DC-8-63CF, one DC-8-30 and three DC-8-50s) and a DC-10-30. In , a third DC-8-55F was purchased. The second DC-10-30, ″Cotonou″, joined the fleet in 1976; prior to incorporation, the aircraft had been delivered in and leased to Thai Airways International. In 1976, Gabon left the consortium and formed Air Gabon; Sierra Leone was incorporated in 1978. A third DC-10-30 was ordered in 1977 and a Boeing 747-200C in 1978. In 1979, the company placed an order with Airbus for one Airbus A300B4, intended to fly the Dakar–Paris route, and two Airbus A310s; the order was later homogenised to include three A300B4s. A Boeing 747F was also ordered that year.
The 1980s
In the airline had 5,100 employees and a fleet that comprised a pair of Caravelle 10Rs, three DC-8-50s, two DC-8-50Fs, one DC-8-63 and three DC-10-30s that served 22 African nations and intercontinental routes to Bordeaux, Geneva, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, New York, Paris, Rome and Zürich. Three aircraft (an Airbus A300B4, an Airbus A310 and a Boeing 747-200F) were on order. A DC-8-55F was sold in 1981 ahead of the incorporation of new aircraft; that year, three Airbus A300s, a Boeing 747-200C and the third DC-10-30 named Niamey joined the fleet. The airline had to sell three Caravelles and two DC-8-63s to counter the financial difficulties that arose from the decline of passengers carried in 1983. On 1 March 1984, a Boeing 747-200F was leased to National Airlines, which in turn sub-leased the aircraft to Saudi Arabian Airlines. Business class was introduced on most of the aircraft during 1984.
The carrier began a steep decline during the decade, just after the ″Africanisation″ of the airline, i.e. Africans holding all top positions, was completed. Since that time, overbooked flights became frequent, tickets reserved for the member states were never paid, and schedules were missed to such an extent that some flights arrived half a day later or even departed ahead of schedule without any explanation. Losses mounted to FRF 68 million and FRF 6,8 million for 1983 and 1984, respectively; by contrast, the carrier made an FRF 17.6 million ( million) profit during 1985. The number of passengers carried that year was 757,000, a 9.5% increase from the previous year. Largely due to the acquisition of new aircraft or wet-leasing planes from other companies, at early 1985 the carrier had a total debt of million, with approximately a fifth of this amount being unpaid contributions from the member states. Director-general Koffi Aoussou also attributed the losses to the rise in fuel prices (Air Afrique spent million in fuel in 1978 and almost million in 1984), to overstaffing, to the increase in competition (mainly from UTA in the European routes), and to poor performance of the member countries' economies.