A new airline to replace LAC in D R Congo ?

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sn26567
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Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carrier

Post by sn26567 »

Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new national carrier

LAC - Lignes Aériennes Congolaises (4V) is to be replaced by a new national carrier according to statements made by the Democratic Republic of Congo's transportation minister Justin Kalunga. The government is currently planning to set-up a new national carrier that is scheduled to launch operations as early as June. LAC had last operated scheduled flights back in 2008.

Source: ch-aviation
André
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OO-LRM
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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by OO-LRM »

Could it be "JetCongo" or "Congofly" ?

fcw
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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by fcw »

OO-LRM wrote:Could it be "JetCongo" or "Congofly" ?
You forgot AIR Congo.

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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by OO-LRM »

No i did not. Think about the renegotiated bilateral agreement between Belgium and DRC.

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RoMax
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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by RoMax »

Thinking about that new bilateral agreement, this will be an airline where Belgium will be involved. They commited themself in that agreement to help improve aviation safety in Congo, and barely a few months later it comes out they'll launch a new national airline...interesting.

Eventually two safe Congolese airlines? A private one (Korongo) and a government owned/related one (this new carrier)? The next question that comes up, will they compete or work together?

OO-LRM, I think it's clear what you are thinking about, but I don't think that's going to be the case.

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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by OO-LRM »

If the "Jet" and the "Fly"boys have the right equipment and the right connections with the "Justin" people ( not the Belgian one!) it can be a go for. But it will be a risky business. LAC /DRC is waiting since the CityBird days for such an oportunity.

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tolipanebas
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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by tolipanebas »

OO-LRM wrote:If the "Jet" and the "Fly"boys have the right equipment and the right connections with the "Justin" people (not the Belgian one!) it can be a go. But it will be a risky business. LAC/DRC is waiting since the CityBird days for such an oportunity.
Flying to RDC is always very risky business for a Belgian airline, especially if you have to rely on local 'partners'. :roll:

SN would be most pleased to no longer be depending on a costly lease agreement over slots when the new Belgo-Congolese bilateral comes into effect, granting daily traffic rights to the designated Belgian flag carrier, for sure. ;-)

What comes after that, may be good news for the black market courier service prividers in the Matongé, but isn't such an enviable market segment as some think. It's really not the local passenger from BRU with 150kg of luggage (real figure, BTW) and discussing for hours just how much extra he'll need to pay for that, which brings in good money for the airline; its all the bling-bling which flies in from New York, Paris, Milan, Switzerland, or the South of France...

Anyway, the RDC urgently needs more reliable airlines; the dramatic accident of today in Goma just proofs that once more. It is as if history is always repeating itself, sadly enough. :(

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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by OO-LRM »

You are right tolipanebas as far as the RDC is concerned they need a reliable airline. On the other hand SN is not the only Belgian instrument, to serve/codeshare/ wet lease and beyond, the RDC routes.But keep it simple you need the right equipment,the right yield management and a respectfull agreement with the RDC partners. I think we will see some drastic changes in a very near future

kilobravo243
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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by kilobravo243 »

I do not think SN will be involved in setting up a new airliner in the DRC as they will otherwise compete against Korongo, which still has to fully establish itself. The governmen thas actually hired an indepenent firm to help that select a strategic partner for that purpose. We should know more in the next two weeks.

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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by Bel33 »

The second Belgian Company could be Jetairfly... It make sense since they ask slots between DRC and Belgium!

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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by fcw »

OO-LRM wrote:
FCW wrote: You forgot AIR Congo
No i did not. Think about the renegotiated bilateral agreement between Belgium and DRC.
Yes you did! ;)

CongoJET, AIR Congo or CongoFLY

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tolipanebas
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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by tolipanebas »

OO-LRM wrote:SN is not the only Belgian instrument, to serve/codeshare/wet lease and beyond, the RDC routes. But keep it simple: you need the right equipment,the right yield management and a respectfull agreement with the RDC partners. I think we will see some drastic changes in a very near future
Mind you: the route from Belgium to RDC has traditionally always seen multiple operators except for the past few years and as you may know, several Belgian companies have been involved in partnerships with RDC airlines in the past too in order to help them make use of their traffic rights while trying to make a profit from the partnership, so it would be just a return to 'normality' in fact if say jetairfly decides to fly to the RDC on those 2 LAC slots this time. As such, I fail to see why you talk so secretly about all this, as if it would be something cunningly new and totally unexpected?

BTW- SN is pushing hard for the Belgian government to negotiate additional traffic rights for them to Cameroon too as they are doing really great ever since SWISS transferred all of their flights to them, which demonstrates that many of these AFI routes thrive on the bling bling traffic flying BEYOND BRU, much more than the traffic TO/FROM BRU, just as I have written in my previous post and so a route to BRU is a fetish for all Congolese airlines, but not automatically also a money maker for the (Belgian) partner, especially not if there's no bling bling part to the equation due to the terminator aspect of such a route...

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A new airline to replace LAC in D R Congo ?

Post by sn26567 »

Congolese government proceeds with setting up of new carrier to replace LAC

LAC - Lignes Aériennes Congolaises (4V) is set to be replaced by a new national carrier, having been dissolved by the Congolese government in December 2012. Kinshasa is looking to develop a public-private partnership with "several reputable international airlines" using startup capital of USD50million.

However, press reports state, in order to proceed with the launch, Kinshasa must first resolve pending labour wage disputes and property seizures by creditors over unpaid wages and invoices payable by LAC, itself a replacement airline for the defunct Air Zaire (QC), dating back to 2003.

LAC still has one aircraft on its books; a B737-200 Adv. (MSN 22071 / 9Q-CLG) currently stored at Perpignan Rivesaltes Llabanere (PGF).

Source: ch-aviation
André
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Re: A new airline to replace LAC in D R Congo ?

Post by andorra-airport »

Are those 6 Xian MA60's still on order?

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RoMax
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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by RoMax »

According to some African press, the RDC wants to create a new national carrier and if possible with a thrusted international airline (as they don't want it to be on the black list). The government talked with representatives of Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways and Brussels Airlines.
They don't say much more about TK, ET and Kenya Airways, but they do say something more about SN. SN is said to be interessed, but only if the new carrier uses Kinshasa and Lubumbashi as their home bases, like Korongo Airlines. Though I don't think that could be a issue with these two cities being the most important of the country. Would be strange to have a national airline without a base at these two cities.

Airlines/companies that are interested can file a proposal to the Ministry of Transport until the end of August 2013.
Congo wants to revive their aviation industry and want to end the fact that they are blacklisted as a whole country (something in which Belgium already promissed to help, before being granted the two extra traffic rights).

http://www.tourmag.com/RDC-vers-la-crea ... 61030.html

crew1990
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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by crew1990 »

In this case SN would set up a new carrier, witch would be concurent to her own airlines there? Or Korongo would become the national airlines of RDC

Bel33
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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by Bel33 »

SN is interested to negociate a participation only if the new national DRC carrier is built on the Korongo structure and use her two bases ( Kinshasa and lubumbashi )

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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by Flanker2 »

Pardon to inject some reality, but if SN were to be involved, where would they get the funding and how would that funding be managed? Since Allard wants a few more jets and he'll probably get them, that would get the equipment sorted, but wouldn't it be weird that a Congolese national carrier would be flying with Belgium-registered aircraft?

In order to work, they have to get 3 things sorted:
-Funding
-Congo registered aircraft (which means that the aircraft must be under supervision of the DRC CAA instead of BCAA). If the blacklisting were to be lifted, this would involve grounding almost all but Korongo.
-Common management structure

On the screen like this it looks simple, but in the reality...
I hope that they're not just fishing for bribes.

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RoMax
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Re: Lignes Aériennes Congolaises to be replaced by new carri

Post by RoMax »

Flanker2 wrote: On the screen like this it looks simple, but in the reality...
I hope that they're not just fishing for bribes.
Of course things are not that simple, especially when talking about the RDC. But a possible participation and/or coorperation with a new national carrier of RDC, could be a very smart move with Congo being such an important market for SN.

For the rest it's way too early to comment on this, there is little to no public information about the project.

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Re: A new airline to replace LAC in D R Congo ?

Post by sn26567 »

Kinshasa still looking for a partner for new national carrier

Brussels Airlines has reportedly shown the strongest interest in partnering the Congolese government in forming a new national carrier to replace the now defunct LAC - Lignes Aériennes Congolaises but has not committed to anything.

According to The African Aviation Tribune, of the four potential partners approached, which included Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways, the Belgians had shown the greatest interest but were adamant that any new airline would necessarily have to use partner Korongo Airlines facilities in both Kinshasa N'Djili and Lubumbashi.

It is to be recalled that predecessor Sabena had also entered into a partnership with the then-Zairean government to create a new airline to be called "New Air Zaïre" though this deal came to naught.

No mention was made of any progress in previously announced talks with Turkish Airlines. The DRC had hoped to have a deal cut and dry by May with the new airline airborne by June. As such, Kinshasa has reissued a tender to all interested parties & carriers closing on August 31.

Source: ch-aviation

(This is a confirmation of what RoMax posted a few days ago)
André
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