Air Afrique: The Pan-African Airlines 1961-2002
Air Afrique acted as the national carrier for the Francophone nations of West Africa that did not have the resources for their own airline.
Air Afrique had its beginnings in 1960 as a joint venture between Air France and UAT (later became UTA) to take over airline services in the newly independent Francophone nations of West Africa. A series of three conferences between the two French airlines, the French government and the heads of state and representatives of 11 nations culminated in the 1961 Treaty of Yaoundé (named for the capital of Cameroon). Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Mauritania, Niger, the Republic of the Congo and Senegal owned 66% of the airline with Air France and UAT each holding 17% ownership.
Air Afrique was headquartered in Côte d'Ivoire and launched operations with 12 Douglas DC-4s leased from Air France and UAT. Traffic built up quickly that in just a year, the airline went from DC-4s to DC-6s to Lockheed Super Constellations to Boeing 707s, the airline's first jet aircraft. At the end of 1962, Air Afrique took delivery of two Douglas DC-8s.
Caravelles joined the fleet in 1965 for regional services and Togo joined the consortium as its 12th nation. With increasing tourism and the need to connect ex-pats in Europe and the United States, Air Afrique ordered the DC-10 in 1970. Gabon left the consortium in 1976 to form Air Gabon but Sierra Leone joined in 1978.
While the 1980s saw continued expansion and the addition of the A300, 747 and 727 to the fleet, debt was accumulating and by the 1990s, Air France took a controlling interest in the airline to restructure its finances. The downturn in the world airline industry after 9/11 hit Air Afrique hard with the airline shutting down operations in 2002 and Air France assuming its West African route network.