AFRAA: Okapi Airlines Launches Flights in DRC
A start-up carrier which says it plans to significantly enhance domestic air services in the Democratic Republic of Congo, launched flights this week. Okapi Airlines inaugurated operations on November 23 with a single Boeing 737-400 wet-leased from Tailwind Airlines of Turkey. The carrier has been formed to establish ‘safe’ air services within the key markets in the African country, which over recent years has had a rather questionable safety record. It is offering four flights per week to Lubumbashi; three times weekly rotations to Kisangani and Mbuji Mayi and a weekly link to Mbandaka.
There are already numerous air links within the DRC although not all passenger and cargo operations follow the standards and regulations that have become common place in much of the developed world. Lubumbashi is the second largest city in the country and the hub of the southeastern part of the country. The copper-mining city serves as the capital of the relatively prosperous Katanga Province, lying near the Zambian border and home to an estimated population of around 1.5 million. It is already served from the capital by Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation, Congo Express and Stellar Airways as well as other unscheduled operators.
Okapi’s other destinations - Mbuji Mayi, the capital of south-central Kasai-Oriental Province and Mbandaka, located at the confluence of the Congo and Ruki Rivers – are also already served by some of the above carriers as well as Hewa Bora Airways.
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