Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation

Updated on Jan 30, 2024

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BU FPY Operating bases N'djili Airport Founded 1991 Operating base N'djili Airport		FPY RedBird Destinations 20 Fleet size 4

Focus cities Lubumbashi Int'l Airport Key people David and Daniel Blattner Headquarters Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo Profiles Facebook Twitter

Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation (literally "African Aviation Company", commonly abbreviated CAA and marketed as flyCAA) is a regional airline from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, based at N'djili Airport in Kinshasa. It offers an extensive network of domestic scheduled passenger flights, as well as cargo flights. Due to safety and security concerns, CAA has been included in the list of air carriers banned in the European Union, along with many other airlines from the Congo.

History

Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation (CAA) was founded in February 1991 by David and Daniel Blattner as an air taxi company, initially operating a single Grumman Gulfstream I. More Gulfstreams were added to the fleet, as well as Convair 580, Antonov An-26 and Ilyushin Il-18 aircraft as the company moved from air taxi to passenger and cargo services. In 2005 two ex-Spirit Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-81 aircraft were acquired, followed by two McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft in 2008. In 2009 a Fokker 50 was acquired and eventually a further four Fokker 50s joined the fleet. The McDonnell Douglas aircraft were eventually disposed of and replaced with Airbus A320 aircraft.

In 2012 CAA formed a commercial and strategic alliance with rival FlyCongo which led to consolidation into a single brand, flyCAA, in October 2012. The aircraft inherited from FlyCongo, three McDonnell Douglas MD-80s and a Boeing 767-200, were phased out.

In January 2016, the airline terminated their only international route to Johannesburg after failing to receive renewed traffic rights.

Destinations

According to the August 2013 timetable, CAA operates scheduled flights to the following destinations:

Fleet

The FlyCAA fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of August 2016):

Fleet development

Over the years, the following aircraft types were operated:

A Douglas DC-8 had been purchased by CAA and painted in its colors but was never delivered and eventually scrapped at Johannesburg International Airport.

Accidents and incidents

The only fatal accident involving an aircraft of Compagnie d'Aviation Africaine occurred on 4 March 2013, when a Fokker 50 (registered 9Q-CBD) crashed near Goma International Airport. Of the nine people that had been on the flight from Lodja, six were killed. There were however a number of non-fatal incidents which resulted in CAA aircraft being damaged beyond repair:

On 1 April 1997, a Convair CV-580 (registered 9Q-CRU) was destroyed at Tshikapa Airport when it overshot the runway and hit an embankment following a failed take-off abortion. There were fourteen occupants on board the scheduled flight to Mbuji-Mayi.

On 18 November 1999, another CV-580 (registered 9Q-CEJ) had to be written off following an off-airport emergency landing near Tshikapa due to an engine failure that had been encountered shortly into the flight to Kananga.

On 19 November 2009, Flight 3711 from Kinshasa overran the runway upon landing at Goma Airport. Of the 117 occupants on board the aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 registered 9Q-CAB, around 20 were injured.

On 2 January 2010, a cargo-configured Boeing 727 (registered 9Q-CAA) veered off the runway during an emergency landing attempt in heavy rain at N'djili Airport. Previously, the pilots had reported a loss of hydraulic pressure.

References

Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA