Hewa Bora Airways

The airline was established and started operations in 1998 with the joining together of Zaire Airlines, Zaire Express, and Congo Airlines.

On 1 November 2007, HBA (51%) and Brussels Airlines subsidiary Pan African Airlines (49%) announced a new domestic partnership to be called AirDC, to operate BAe 146-200 and Boeing 737 aircraft, principally to Lubumbashi, Mbuji-Mayi, Brazzaville, and Douala. This project was cancelled because of disagreements between Brussels Airlines and Hewa Bora. On 15 December 2009, Brussels Airlines announced they were working on a new airline in the Congo. The airline's name was Korongo; it was launched without Hewa Bora and started operations during 2012, suspending all operations during 2015.

On 24 June 2009, the new website of Hewa Bora Airways went online, after not having been updated since 2005.

On 16 July 2011, the airline's air operator's certificate was suspended, following the accident that befell Flight 952 on 8 July 2011.

Blacklist

The entire Hewa Bora Airways fleet was blacklisted in European airspace. The Lockheed L-1011-500 and the Boeing 767-200ER were the last planes accepted in Europe before new noise regulations and storage of the 767 definitively banned the airline. Hewa Bora Airways was the last airline allowed to operate from the Democratic Republic of the Congo into Europe.

The Hewa Bora Airways fleet included the following aircraft when it suspended operations:

Retired fleet

Hewa Bora Airways also operated these aircraft prior to ceasing operations:

Incidents and accidents

On 15 April 2008, Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122 crashed into a residential and market area of Goma of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Forty people were killed, among them three passengers; 111 people were injured, including 40 passengers.

On 8 July 2011, Hewa Bora Airways Flight 952, a Boeing 727-100, crashed on landing at Kisangani Airport; 74 people were killed, whilst others survived the accident with severe burns.