East African Airways

History

In 1943, during the Conference of Governors of Britain's East African Territory that was attended by government officials, aviation and railroad experts, businessmen and BOAC officials, a committee that sought for the handling of airline services following the end of Second World War was set up. Present at the meeting was Philip Mitchell representing Uganda, who was the only governor interested in aviation that could also provide his expertise after an airport in Kampala was established by him. It was believed by the governors that the promotion and control of civil aviation should be run by a single enterprise; this entity would provide feeder flights, connect intermediate points along the trunk lines and operate local traffic and charter services. A £18,000–50,000 annual budget would be required. There were two different recommendations from the committee regarding the future company's fleet: 13 six-seater aircraft or nine six-seater machines and five Dragon Rapides. No actions were taken until the War was over. Routes in the region were operated by BOAC using DH.89 equipment.

A draft proposal for the creation of the airline was made public in June 1945 (1945-06). The aims had changed a bit since 1943, but the needs for the formation of the company were almost intact. The enterprise that was about to be set up should link England with South Africa via Cairo, Khartoum and Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia, should provide another trunk, yet slower, service departing from Nairobi to the south, should establish a link between East and West Africa via the Belgian Congo, should run feeder flights that connected with all the previous services, and charter operations should be undertaken as well. On 30 October 1945 (1945-10-30), the act that called for the creation of the East African Air Transport Authority, the organism that among other things would create East African Airways (EAA), was signed. With an initial £50,000 capital, ownership of the company was split between Kenya (67.7%), Uganda (22.6%), Tanganyika (9%) and Zanzibar (0.7%). BOAC provided management and technical expertise, and it was also hired to operate six Dragon Rapides. Sir Charles Lockhart was the first chairman of the corporation.

Following test flights in late 1945, operations started from Eastleigh Aerodorome on 1 January 1946 (1946-01-01). The regional Nairobi–Mombasa–Tanga–Zanzibar–Dar es Salaam–Nairobi, Dar es Salaam–Zanzibar–Tanga–Mombasa–Nairobi–Dar es Salaam, Nairobi–Moshi–Dar es Salaam–Nairobi, Nairobi–Kisumu–Entebbe–Nairobi, Nairobi–Eldoret–Kitale–Nairobi, Dar es Sallam–Zanzibar–Tanga–Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam–Lindi–Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam–Morogoro–Nduli–Southern Highlands–Chunya–Mbeya–Dar es Salaam routes opened on 3 April. Sir Reginald Robbins succeeded Lockhart as chairman on 28 June 1946. Six more D.H.89As were purchased for £5,700 each. Doves were also ordered that year but since these aircraft could not be delivered until 1948, the corporation arranged the delivery of Lodestars from BOAC for £6,000 each including spares. Despite the company expecting the Lodestars earlier both types of aircraft arrived the same year, with five Lodestars entering the fleet on 22 February 1948, followed by the first of four Doves (at a cost of £13,300 each) four days later. The Lodestars were deployed on the Nairobi–Dar es Salaam service on 21 March, whereas the Doves started working on the Nairobi–Entebbe run on 14 April. A day later, Lodestars were deployed on the Nairobi–Mombasa–Lindi service. Sir Alfred Vincent succeeded Robbins as chairman on 1 January 1949. That year, the carrier's capital was increased from £50,000 to £221,500. Three more Lodestars from Sabena in the Congo joined the fleet in June. EAA had operated a service to the Congo in conjunction with Sabena, but the route was dropped owing to poor economical performance. On 26 October, the first DC-3 Dakota was phased in; it first served a charter flight to Uranbo on 5 November. Likewise, the Nairobi–Durban coastal service route that had hitherto been operated by Skyways was taken over by EAA on 2 November; a D.H.89 flew the first run. Figures for 1949 showed an increase of 63%, year-on-year, for passenger traffic; cargo and mail increased by 81% and 28%, respectively.

A once-a-week Nairobi–Mbeya–Salisbury DC-3 service was launched in August 1950 (1950-08), but the route was suspended the following year due to stiff competition from airlines like Central African Airways and South African Airways (SAA). That year, the first Dove was sold due to the poor performance of the aircraft in hot and high conditions; three more aircraft of the type exited the fleet in 1951. The Doves were soon replaced with seven ex-SAA Lockheed L-18-08s that were subsequently converted to the L-18-56 model by replacing their engines with Wright Cyclone G.205A ones. On 6 February 1952, following the death of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II began her return to the United Kingdom on one of EAA's newer aircraft, a DC–3 with registration VP-KHK. Her majesty was carried from Nanyuki to Entebbe, where she connected with a BOAC aircraft. This event marked EAA as being the first airline not based in the United Kingdom that carried a reigning monarch. During 1952, six more DC-3s were purchased. Aimed at replacing the Dragon Rapides, three Macchi M320s were acquired; these aircraft proved to be inadequate for the airline's operations and were later phased out and sold. Also during 1952, the airline commenced flying pilgrims to and from Mecca in conjunction with Aden Airways. By the same time, it was also decided that the Lodestars would be replaced with more DC-3s; all ten of them were sold between late 1952 and early 1953. The last service flown with these aircraft took place in February 1953 (1953-02). The original three DC-3s were sold but four new aircraft of the type were acquired. A Consolidated PBY Catalina was purchased in 1953; it was used in the filming of Mogambo and sold the next year.

In early 1957, services to the United Kingdom were launched on a once-weekly basis, at first operated by BOAC on EAA's behalf, and then in EAA's own right with ex-BOAC Argonauts. This tourist-class service had low load factors when it was started, as it competed with same-fare BOAC Britannias and Viscounts. Also in early 1957, the Nairobi–Aden route was started; in mid-September the same year the route was extended farther east, from Aden to Bombay via Karachi, and Argonauts were also deployed on it.

Following the opening of Embakasi Airport on 9 March 1958, EAA started transferring all their operations from Wilson Aerodrome to the new airport; upon moving their DC-3 operations in July the same year, all scheduled services operated from Embakasi, becoming their hub since.

In late 1968 a number of De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otters were added to the EAA fleet for the operation of domestic services from smaller airfields in East Africa.

In 1960, two Comets ordered by the corporation in 1958 were put into service on the London–Rome–Khartoum–Entebbe–Nairobi, London–Rome–Khartoum–Nairobi–Dar-es-Salaam, and Nairobi–Aden–Karachi–Bombay routes. The same year, EAA reactivated Seychelles-Kilimanjaro Air Transport, a 1952-founded airline otherwise known as SKAT that had previously ceased operations, as a wholly owned subsidiary that flew some routes for EAA. SKAT was later re-christened Simbair Ltd when it was decided that EAA would no longer operate charter services; the renaming effectively took place in May 1971 (1971-05) and became an EAA's wholly owned subsidiary that took over SKAT and EAA passenger and cargo charter operations.

As in the early 1960s the airline was running short of capacity and the fleet was growing old, three Fokker F27s were ordered as a replacement for the DC-3s and the Argonauts. The airline had not yet taken delivery of the third of these aircraft, when in late 1962 a fourth was ordered. In May 1965 (1965-05), an order for three VC-10s worth GB£11 million was placed. Likewise, another VC-10 was ordered in 1969.

By March 1975 (1975-03), employment was 4,700. At this thime the fleet comprised sixteen aircraft (five DC-3s, three DC-9-30s, four F.27s and four Super VC10s) that worked on an extensive domestic network within the three country members as well as international services to Aden, Addis Ababa, Athens, Blantyre, Bombay, Bujumbura, Cairo, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Karachi, Kigali, Kinshasa, London, Lourenço Marques, Lusaka, Mauritius, Mogadishu, Rome, Seychelles, Tananarive and Zurich were operated. Management assistance from Aer Lingus was contracted in mid-1976 amid deteriorating relations between the three countries that ran the airline. Financial difficulties deepened when both Tanzania and Uganda struggled to pay their outstanding debts for the operations of the airline, or directly missed them. EAA operations came to a total halt in January 1977 (1977-01). The airline had incurred in a debt of US$120,000,000 (equivalent to $474,266,886 in 2016) when it went into liquidation in February 1977 (1977-02), with the Kenyan government being one of the major creditors. Both Kenya and Uganda had established their own national airlines before the folding of the corporation: Kenya Airways and Uganda Airlines were formed in 1977 and 1976, respectively. Tanzania followed in April 1977 (1977-04), forming Air Tanzania.

Fleet

Owned or leased, the airline operated the following equipment all through its history:

Accidents and incidents

According to Aviation Safety Network, the airline experienced seven events throughout its history; two of them led to fatalities, with a death toll of 63. All occurrences shown below carried with the hull-loss of the aircraft involved.