The national airline of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took delivery of its first Embraer yesterday. But this is not one of the machines that Embraer has ordered.

Congo Airways is the national airline of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Kinshasa. It was only founded in 2014 and began flight operations on October 9, 2015 with the first former Alitalia Airbus A320-200 from Kinshasa-Ndjili. In the same month, a second A320 was put into the fleet. In April 2016, Air Niugini took over two DeHavilland Canada DHC-8-400s. The fleet has not changed since then.

In December 2019, the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer ordered two Embraer 175s and secured two further options. These two jets are intended to replace the two Canadian turboprops. But almost six months later, Congo Airways converted the order. The Congolese airline signed a contract for two Embraer 190-E2s (plus two options). Again six months later, Congo Airways converted the options to determinations on the Embraer 195-E2. So there are now two E190-E2 and two E195-E2 in Embraer's books.

And now yesterday, September 15, 2021, a first Embraer in Congo Airways colors was transferred to Kinshasa. But this is not one of the four orders. A contract was signed with Kenya Airways for a two-year wet lease of two Embraer 190s. The second aircraft is also due to arrive in Kinshasa today. Both aircraft started their careers with Air Astana ten years ago and were handed over to Kenya Airways in summer 2019.

The brand new E2 aircraft are to be delivered to Congo Airways from May 2022.

It should be noted that Congo Airways is interested in four Airbus A220-300s. These aircraft are to be purchased through a leasing company and will replace the two Airbus A320-200s. At the beginning of 2021, Désiré Balazire Bantu said that the first A220 should arrive in the third quarter of 2021. In the meantime, Mr. Balazire Bantu is no longer the CEO of Congo Airways and thus the plans for the Airbus A220 may have been buried.