Hubs Leopoldville Founded 1920 Fleet size 6 | Key people Emile Allard Ceased operations 1922 Hub Kinshasa | |
Destinations Leopoldville, Ngombe, Lisala, Stanleyville Headquarters Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo | ||
Ligne Aérienne du Roi Albert (LARA) was a short-lived civilian airline in the Belgian Congo colony.
Contents
History
Belgium had set up the SNETA in 1919 to study the possibilities and options of civilian air transport. In Europe, Sabena was created as a result, in their African colony the Belgians created CENAC (Comité d' Etude pour la Navigation Aérienne du Congo), which would evolve into the Ligne Aerienne du Roi Albert, so named after Albert I of Belgium who was a driving force behind the project in 1920.
The possibility of exploiting an aerial route along the Congo River was studied under the leadership of Emile Allard, civil engineer, and Mr Michaux, a military officer.
Routes and Destinations
The airline had only a short life, first opening a 580 kilometres (360 mi) leg from Kinshasa (formerly Leopoldville) to Gombe on July 1, 1920. The second leg, 610 kilometres (380 mi) from Gombe to Lisala was opened on March 3, 1921. On July 1, 1921, exactly one year after the initial flight, the entire route from Kinshasa to Kisangani (1,725 kilometres (1,072 mi)) was finally opened, but operations were discontinued on June 7, 1922.
Fleet
LARA operated six French-built Levy Lepen HB2 hydroplanes upstream along the Congo River. This choice was dictated by the absence of any landing sites along the route. The aircraft were also used to photograph and map the area. The airline was the very first one set-up by a European colonial power overseas. In total 125,000 kilometres (78,000 mi) were covered during the airline's short life, amounting to 80 round trips, carrying 95 passengers and 2 tons of mail.
Demise
After its demise in 1922, a Congo local network was set up by Sabena, followed by a Belgium-Congo link in 1935.