Hewa Bora Airways is an airline based in Barumbu, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is one of Congo's largest airlines and operates regional and domestic services. Its main base is Kinshasa International Airport. "Hewa Bora" is Swahili for "Fresh Air"

History

The airline was established and started operations in 1994 with the joining together of Zaire Airlines, Zaire Express and Congo Airlines. It has 1,100 employees (at March 2007).

On November 1, 2007 HBA (51%) and Brussels Airlines subsidiary Pan African Airlines (49%) announced a new domestic partnership to be called AirDC, to operate BAe 146-200 and Boeing 737 aircraft, principally to Lubumbashi, Mbuji-Mayi, Brazzaville and Douala.

Blacklist

The entire Hewa Bora Airways fleet is blacklisted in European airspace. The Lockheed TriStar 500 and the Boeing 767-200ER were the last planes accepted in Europe before new noise regulations and storage of the 767 definitively banned the airline. Hewa Bora Airways was the last airline that was allowed to operate from the Democratic Republic of the Congo into Europe.

Destinations

Hewa Bora Airways operates the following services (at January 2005):

• Domestic scheduled destinations: Gemena, Goma, Kananga, Kinshasa, Kisangani, Lubumbashi, Mbandaka and Mbuji-Mayi.
• International scheduled destinations: Douala, Johannesburg, Lagos, Lomé, Abuja, Brussels.

Fleet

The Hewa Bora Airways fleet includes the following aircraft (at March 2008):

• 2 Boeing 727-100
• 1 Boeing 727-100F
• 6 Boeing 727-200
• 1 Lockheed L-1011-500 Tristar
• 2 Douglas Company DC-8-55F

Aircraft lost as of April 2008:

• 1 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 - lost in April 15, 2008 crash
• 1 Lockheed L-1011-250 Tristar - lost in crash in 2002
• 1 Boeing 707-366C - lost in crash in 2002

Incidents and accidents

• On April 26, 2002 a Hewa Bora Airways Boeing 707-366C (Registration 9Q-CKB, Serial 193C-1227) on a cargo flight from Johannesburg, South Africa (Johannesburg International Airport) to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (N'Djili Airport) lost directional control on landing in a storm and ran off the side of the runway causing damage to the right main gear. None of the 3 crew members on board were killed but the aircraft was written off.
• On August 8, 2002 a Hewa Bora Airways Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 250 (Registration 9Q-CHA, Serial 193C-1227) on a ferry flight from Libreville, Gabon (Libreville International Airport) to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (N'Djili Airport) blew out all the landing gear tires on landing. There were no fatalities but the aircraft was written off.
• On April 15, 2008, a Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 jet crashed in Goma, North Kivu province, attempting taking off. Forty-two died and there were six injuries. Authorities concluded that most of those killed in the accident were casualties on the ground; one registered passenger on the plane died.

References

External links

• Hewa Bora Airways
• Hewa Bora Airways Fleet
• Hewa Bora Airways at the Aviation Safety Network Database
• Aviation Photos: Hewa Bora Airways at Airliners.net
• Aviation Photos: Hewa Bora Airways (HBA) at JetPhotos.net