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Air Afrique was a Pan-Africanism airline, that was mainly owned by many countries for most of its history. It was established as the official transnationalism Air carrier for francophone West Africa and Central Africa, because many of these countries did not have the capability to create and maintain a national airline, and had its headquarters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The carrier was a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as well as the French Union's smaller IATA-like ATAF.
Air Afrique began a steady decline in the early 1980s, yet many years later the company was still considered the most reputable carrier in West Africa, and even one of the top five airlines of Africa. Mismanagement, corruption, and the downturn in the aviation industry after the 11 September 2001 attacks led the airline to a crisis that ended with its liquidation in early 2002. Even though there were plans to revive the airline with the creation of a new company, they never materialised, as it was succeeded by short-lived Afrinat International Airlines.
Cheikh Fall was appointed as the first CEO of the company on . It started operations on serving internal routes with 12 leased DC-4s from Air France and UAT. On , an Air France Lockheed Constellation that flew the Paris–Port Etienne–Dakar–Abidjan–Cotonou–Douala route on behalf of the company inaugurated the long-haul operations. Pressurised Douglas DC-6 aircraft were added to the fleet in the early 1960s, also leased from UAT. On , the carrier deployed Boeing 707s, Aircraft lease from Air France, on the Paris–Dakar–Abidjan and the Paris–Douala–Brazzaville runs; these were the first jet aircraft introduced on the carrier's intercontinental routes. Two DC-8s were the first jets ordered by the airline in the same year. Also in 1962, the carrier became a member of the International Air Transport Association.
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By , Air Afrique had 2,500 employees. At this time, there were two DC-8-50s in service, along with three DC-4s and four DC-6s. That month, the route to Paris, already stopping at Dakar and Geneva, began calling at Robertsfield. A month later, Air Afrique passengers started flying to the United States allocated on Pan Am flights. Also in 1965, the company ordered two Caravelles; a third DC-8, a convertible (DC-8F) one that would be used to increase cargo capacity, was ordered in . In 1966, the DC-8F entered the fleet and the carrier started withdrawing the DC-6s from service. Togo became the state in joining the consortium in 1965, but it was not until 1968 that this country held a participation in the carrier. By the mid-1960s, the carrier took over the Air France and UTA maintenance facilities located at Dakar-Yoff Airport. There, the company carried out the maintenance for its aircraft (excluding the jet fleet) and also undertook maintenance works for foreign carriers, including Air Mauritanie and Air Senegal, and even for air forces of neighbour countries. Another maintenance centre was located at Douala Airport. However, major maintenance works were provided by UAT at Le Bourget Airport.
Air Afrique received two Caravelle 11Rs, a mixed passenger-cargo version of the Caravelle 10R, in . Two DC-4s were sold at the time in order for the company to afford the costs of these new aircraft. The Caravelles were deployed on African routes, replacing the DC-6s. In 1968, another DC-8-50 joined the fleet. By then, the route network included 22 African countries, along with Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nice and Paris in France, Geneva in Switzerland and New York in the United States (in agreement with Pan Am).
During 1971, a third Caravelle was incorporated into the fleet, and the regional headquarters for Central Africa were moved from Douala, Cameroon to Libreville in Gabon. The move angered president François Tombalbaye, who also threatened to withdraw support to the multinational enterprise in 1972, something that finally did not occur. The carrier joined the Air France reservation system in 1973. The first wide-bodied DC-10-30, named ″Libreville″, was delivered on , arriving in Dakar on 2 March. Starting 13 March, the type replaced the DC-8s on the Paris–Bordeaux–Nouakchott–Dakar, Paris–Dakar–Abidjan, Paris–Fort Lamy–Bangui–Brazzaville, Paris–Marseille–Niamey–Cotonou–Abidjan routes in a gradual manner. Late in 1973, a fourth Caravelle was acquired from Royal Jordanian Airlines and a Douglas DC-8-55F entered the fleet. Cheikh Fall was succeeded by Aoussou Koffi at the head of the company in 1974.
At , the workforce had grown to 3,726 and the carrier's fleet comprised three Caravelles (one 10R and two 11Rs), one DC-3, five DC-8s (one DC-8-63CF, one DC-8-30 and three DC-8-50s) and a DC-10-30. In , a third DC-8-55F was purchased. The second DC-10-30, ″Cotonou″, joined the fleet in 1976; prior to incorporation, the aircraft had been delivered in and leased to Thai Airways International. In 1976, Gabon left the consortium and formed Air Gabon; Sierra Leone was incorporated in 1978. A third DC-10-30 was ordered in 1977 and a Boeing 747-200C in 1978. In 1979, the company placed an order with Airbus for one Airbus A300B4, intended to fly the Dakar–Paris route, and two Airbus A310s; the order was later homogenised to include three A300B4s. A Boeing 747F was also ordered that year.
The carrier began a steep decline during the decade, just after the ″Africanisation″ of the airline, i.e. Africans holding all top positions, was completed. Since that time, overbooked flights became frequent, tickets reserved for the member states were never paid, and schedules were missed to such an extent that some flights arrived half a day later or even departed ahead of schedule without any explanation. Losses mounted to French franc 68 million and FRF 6,8 million for 1983 and 1984, respectively; by contrast, the carrier made an FRF 17.6 million ( million) profit during 1985. The number of passengers carried that year was 757,000, a 9.5% increase from the previous year. Largely due to the acquisition of new aircraft or wet-leasing planes from other companies, at early 1985 the carrier had a total debt of million, with approximately a fifth of this amount being unpaid contributions from the member states. Director-general Koffi Aoussou also attributed the losses to the rise in fuel prices (Air Afrique spent million in fuel in 1978 and almost million in 1984), to overstaffing, to the increase in competition (mainly from UTA in the European routes), and to poor performance of the member countries' economies.
During 1985, former head of the Congolese state-owned oil company Hydrocongo, succeeded Ivory Coast Aoussou Koffi as president and director general of the airline with plans to reduce salaries, shrink the 5,600-strong staff by 515, and to sell a Boeing 747 for million in order to make the company economically viable. By , the debt-to-equity ratio was 8:1, with obligations rising to FRF 1,800 million. At the same time, the fleet comprised three A300s, two Boeing 727s (one chartered from Air France and the other from Jat Airways), two DC-8s and three DC-10s; the Boeing 747 cargo that Ickonga intended to sell to alleviate the financial crisis was acquired by Korean Air Lines for million.
By the late 1980s, Air Afrique had accumulated debts for over 200 billion . The consortium members (Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo) sought assistance from France. On 2 March 1989, Rolland Billecart —a high-ranking official of the French government— entered the company, becoming the first non-African chairman and CEO of Air Afrique with plans to keep the company afloat that included the reduction of the workforce by 2,000. The company carried 710,498 passengers in 1988 and recorded an FRF 288 million net loss for the year, whereas an FRF 7.3 million ( million) net profit was posted the following year, with 754,314 passengers carried. The workforce was cut by 1,600 in June 1989. The new management lobbied to restrict foreign airlines to serve the member countries in order for Air Afrique to take advantage of this situation. Agadez was made part of the route network in the fall of 1989. For a short period of time starting in late 1989, a 302-seater Lockheed L-1011, a 137-seater Boeing 737 and a Boeing 707 Freighter were leased from American Trans Air, Aeromaritime and Naganagani, respectively, in order to supplement the fleet.
The first Airbus A310-304 entered the fleet in 1991. In 1994 the fleet comprised 12 aircraft and the carrier had more than 4,200 employees. Cash position dramatically worsened that year after a 50% devaluation of the CFA franc, a situation that led to the seizure of one fourth of the fleet, due to debt defaults, in the forthcoming years. Subsequently, the already indebted company had to lease in order to revert the lack of aircraft. It nevertheless suspended, or reduced the frequency on some routes, and codeshared others. During 1995, the airline transported 761,000 passengers, losing . Also in 1995, DHL Aviation started participating into the airline. One DC-10-30 was sold to AOM French Airlines in February 1996.
Billecart left Air Afrique in 1997 and was succeeded by Sir Harry Tirvangadum, a Mauritius national, as Director General. Billecart's management was plagued of accusations. He claimed he failed to restructure the company due to the excessive interference from the governments that owned it, whereas employees accused him of worsening Air Afrique's financial position by acquiring four Airbus A310-300s. Tirvangadum reduced the debts to just 31 billion CFA francs. From all the member states, only Côte d'Ivoire, Mali and Senegal provided their quota from a total of 20 billion CFA francs that were necessary to alleviate the financial difficulties of the carrier at that time. During Tirvangandum's mandate, Air Afrique entered a partnership with the World Bank, which aimed operations to be restricted to Africa. In , the carrier reduced its fleet from 15 to 11 when four Airbus A310-300s were returned to the creditors. Late that year, debts rose to about . By that time, eleven countries on the CFA franc zone were the major shareholders of the airline (70.4%), African and French investors had a participation of 13.7%, Air France had a 12.2% stake, and DHL owned 3.2%.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Marie Louise GUEYE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AIR AFRIQUE, Defendant-Appellee
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Leonard TCHOKPONHOVE, Plaintiff, v. AIR AFRIQUE, Defendant.
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