Korongo Airlines: THE END

[TCAS_climb]

Does anybody know what Stellar Airways, based in Kinshasa, is all about? They claim to have A320 aircraft, to have passed an IOSA audit, to be EASA approved, etc.

An avatar of Hewa Bora Airways? There seems to be Indian management... The whole thing looks more like a joke than a reputable airline but after all everyone deserves a chance (sort of).

[Boeing767copilot]

Korongo will cease all operations one of the next weeks

- no authorisation for Korongo to operate in the country
- no more money
- no progress in the negotiations
- conflict between the Congolese authorities/president and the Forrest group

I can't give the source but it's a very reliable and close to the project

[Flanders]

that's it for now!
Guess we will have to wait for an official release to back this up...

[Shanti]

[RoMax]

No surprise actually. Especially when it became clear that the president/the government and George Forrest are in a serious dispute.
But still a big dissapointment...

Maybe a new opportunity for LH or SN to take over Rwandair. SN has looked at Rwandair before and according to rumours LH and SN already saw Rwandair as a possible "replacement" for Korongo Airlines some months ago.
And Rwandair is searching for a powerfull, investor, and they prefer an European airline...
But even IF they would go after Rwandair I don't think this will happen before the full take over of SN by LH (as SN is not in a financial position to do such a risky investment again). Except when LH decides to take over Rwandair themself and not through SN.

[Flanker]

I'm very saddened by this unconfirmed news.
We had it coming given that Korongo would have taken some losses as any start-up in the beginning phase and that extra burden would have been difficult for SN Air Holdings to absorb.

Let's hope that LH buys SN in 6 months time and that negotiations continue so that Korongo can be started as soon as the funds are there.

[DeltaWiskey]

Not unexpected, after I saw the situation on TV in June, it was already clear to me they were not taking off... I hoped (and still do until this new is official) to be proved wrong, though.

[Kabila]

Chronicle of a Death Foretold...

What an idea to even try to invest in such a corrupt and complete collapsed country ??? A couple of millions invested in a hangar, re-painted aircraft, staff training, and much more... what a sin. Was there even any Risk Management taken into account?

But what do you want? If you see how HR at SN prefers sending 22-24 year old, unexperienced 'fresh from school' new hires to African stations, rather than hiring experienced staff, who speak the local language and have lived in those conditions...

Let's be honest: when you come fresh from school, no matter with what high level degree, if you have no experience and are sent to places like Lubumbashi or Kinshasa... with no idea how business is 'conducted' over there... well, then things will fail.

To do business in the DRC, you need money, relations and connections, up to the highest level of the presidency. It was like that under Mobutu, it is like that under Kabila.

A 22-24 year junior can't change anything to that. His MBA degree has 0 value in the DRC. You need other talents over there...

Hopefully SN management and HR have learnt a lesson.

There are other places in Africa who aren't as bad as the DRC and where a project as Korongo might still succeed. Maybe start listening to some people who are on the field next time...

[rwandan-flyer]

Maybe a new opportunity for LH or SN to take over Rwandair. SN has looked at Rwandair before and according to rumours LH and SN already saw Rwandair as a possible "replacement" for Korongo Airlines some months ago.
And Rwandair is searching for a powerfull, investor, and they prefer an European airline...
But even IF they would go after Rwandair I don't think this will happen before the full take over of SN by LH (as SN is not in a financial position to do such a risky investment again). Except when LH decides to take over Rwandair themself and not through SN.

There are already strong ties between RwandAir and LH-SN, in code share, maintenance, staff formation,... But the Rwandan government has said that RwandAir will be privatized, when the airline will be break even (2013-2014).

Well it's shame for Korongo, until that the DRC situation is chaotic, it will always be hard to made business in DRC.

[sn26567]

All the local workers at Lubumbashi have been fired.

And, indeed, Forrest is in bad terms with the Kabila family. The authorities don(tn like Korongo, which reminds them too much of no longer wanted colonial times.

But two new airlines should be launched before year end: Okapi, which is closely related to the brother of Joseph Kabila (Okapi), and a second one with Indian capital (IndiGo Group). Furthermore, CAA is growing at a fast rate (three A320 + 1 Fokker 100).

Korongo is not welcome in that power game.

[Air Key West]

All local employees at Lubumbashi have been fired ? When will those members of the Board of Directors who were behind the project step down ? When are certain top managers also responsible for this money squandering be fired ? I was always against these projects (Air DC and Korongo) for an obvious reason very few people seem to understand : investing in the DRC is a high risk investment which an airline like b.air with little financial means cannot afford. They burned their fingers once (Air DC), but that wasn't enough, they had to do it again. What a waste of money. Common sense and good management would have dictated to invest that money in additional A330s for more frequencies to existing African destinations or to open new destinations (in Africa + USA for instance) which would have been a very low risk investment which would certainly have made money, money that the airline needs.

The least that b.air workers could do, in my opinion, is to announce a one-hour warning work stoppage to protest against those who have wasted such valuable money. If a "normal" employee had been responsible for a similar mess, he would have been fired by HR, but Directors and Managers don't get fired, they get bonuses when they are responsible for mismanagement.

So, what's going to happen to the aircraft already in Korongo livery ?

[airazurxtror]

At least, thanks to Cathay, we have flown with an airline that will never take off !
(I mean the flight to Prague with OO-MJE)

[Conti764]

Korongo will cease all operations one of the next weeks

- no authorisation for Korongo to operate in the country
- no more money
- no progress in the negotiations
- conflict between the Congolese authorities/president and the Forrest group

I can't give the source but it's a very reliable and close to the project

Another piece of proof Belgium should end all cooperation with and funding/state aid of this through and through corrupt country. What's there to loose? The Chinese are taking over anyways and Kabila is a thug with power.

[TCAS_climb]

Isn't AirDC/Korongo a project run by Lufthansa Consulting? (please notice the effort of using the present tense although the past tense seems to be more appropriate)

And it looks like the project SN26257 refers to is the Stellar Airways I mentioned earlier.

[Air Key West]

Lufthansa Consulting offered its expertise to launch airlines in Congo-Brazzaville and in Cameroon

http://www.lhconsulting.com/en/company/ ... //111.html

http://www.lhconsulting.com/en/company/ ... //102.html

[RoMax]

Now on gva.be: "Korongo project will not be cancelled". According to a source close to the matter SN and George Forrest are not going to cancell the project.
Rumours "on the internet" that the people of Korongo in Lubumbashi are fired is said to be completely wrong.

It's also said the unions are worried about the project as it already costed so much money while it is not certain it can start. And that the personnel was informed that SN is going to end 2011 with a big loss and that they fear the management will try to save money through the people working for SN.

http://www.gva.be/nieuws/geldzaken/belg ... 83758.aspx

[sn26567]

The news is also published in lesoir.be: http://www.lesoir.be/actualite/le_fil_i ... 874368.php

The two partners (SN and George Forrest) expect that the company will start operations "within a few months". Didn't we hear that sentence earlier?

[Air Key West]

Indeed, we've heard this before. I wouldn't be surprised if b.air's Communication Dept were spreading these rumours because employees are increasingly getting upset with this waste of money (and time) while they are asked to make sacrifices and because management refuses to give them the pay increase agreed upon earlier. They might be trying to calm down the unrest growing among their employees.
Btw, the journalists don't quote their sources. Le Soir only refers to two "Korongo experts" without giving any names.

[Passenger]

On 24th October 2011, a new group of Belgian military instructors arrived at Kindu. Their mission: to coach 569 members of Congo's URR (Unités de réaction rapide). The bilateral relations Belgium <-> Congo are thus not that bad and a breakthrough for Korongo in the near future is not excluded (although, off course, it is not linked to this Belgian-Congolese cooperation - as we all understand and agree).

[RoMax]

Korongo is not just about the Belgian-DRC relations, these are relatively good at this moment. But it's more about the relations between George forrest and the government of the DRC (and mainly Kabila) and the relations between Kabila (the government) and the "big boss" of Hewa Bora (wich still wants to restart as far as I heard) and some other people in the DRC with a lot of influence that not wat Korongo to start.