In a country where the words "aviation" and "safety" are not often seen together, The Democratic Republic of the Congo's Civil Aviation Authority today took a significant step toward safer skies by grounding the aircraft of 29 airlines that were found to have invalid airworthiness certificates.
The list included aircraft of the newly reborn Hewa Bora Airways, now known as flyCongo who, despite making international press in March by physically destroying 6 of its ageing fleet, have failed to shake off their image of being unsafe.
All of these airlines are, at present, on the EU Blacklist.The list includes:
- Lignes aériennes congolaises (Lac); 1 aircraft
- Tracep-Congo (2)
- Gomair (1)
- Air Tropiques (1)
- Air Kasaï (1)
- Kin-Avia (1)
- M.A.F. (4)
Read More Here [RadioKapi Congo - French]
The boneyard at Kinshasa's N'djili Airport (Serge Bailleul) "According to sources close to the AAC, the publication of this list is part of the implementation of the sixteen measures imposed by the Minister of Transport and Communication Channels, Justin Kalumba, Friday, April 18, to clean up Congolese airspace.After his visits to the premises of the Civil Aviation Authority, the RVA (RVA) and Ndjili airport, Minister Kalumba had asked the AAC to ground immediately, after a technical inspection, all aircraft that do not meet airworthiness requirements.On Tuesday May 15, after leaving a meeting with the authorities of the AAC, Justin Kalumba stated that the purpose of its action is to get Congolese airlines off the blacklist of companies, subject to an operating ban within the European Union."
