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| Founded | 2011 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceased operations | March 19, 2022 (suspended) [1] | ||||||
| Operating bases | Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 4 | ||||||
| Destinations | 5 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Moroni, Comoros | ||||||
| Website | www | ||||||
AB Aviation was a private regional airline and the largest in the Comoros [2] headquartered and based at Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport. [1] Following a fatal accident on 26 February 2022, the airline's air operator's certificate was revoked.
AB Aviation was founded in 2011 with its main purpose being to fill in the gap left by Air Service Comores and Comores Aviation, with both having ceased operations. [3] In September 2016, the National Civil Aviation and Meteorological Agency of Comoros (ANACM) revoked the airworthiness of AB Aviation's Boeing 737, citing problems regarding the aircraft's hydraulic systems within its shock absorbers. The Boeing 737 was sent to South Africa to judge whether the aircraft was airworthy. [4] In November, one of the airline's Embraer aircraft was grounded for 15 days. [3] In February 2019, the airline became partners with Hahn Air Systems GmbH and joined its H1-Air network, gaining access to 100,000 travel agencies. [5] On 19 March 2022, the Comorian Civil Aviation revoked the air operator's certificate of AB Aviation, halting all operations. [6] [1] The airline, which was accused of not having insured the passengers, was sentenced by a civil court to pay the victims of the plane crash €600,000 in compensation. [7] [8]
As of August 2018, AB Aviation served the following destinations: [9]
Historically, the airline's fleet included the following aircraft: [10] [3]
On February 26, 2022, a Cessna 208D Caravan registered 5H-MZA leased from Fly Zanzibar, operating as AB Aviation Flight 1103 and flying from Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport to Mohéli Airport, crashed about 2.5 km into the Indian Ocean. All 14 occupants on board the aircraft were killed. [11] [12] [13] [14] The flight had taken off off from Mohéli Airport at 11:50 EAT. [15]
No distress calls or technical faults were issued by the pilots. [16] Search and rescues were hampered by bad weather conditions, [11] which had been present for several days over the Comoros islands. [15] The Comorian Government declared three days of national mourning. [17] The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority sent a team of investigators to assist in the investigation. [18] As of 2023, the wreckage remains missing with only one unidentified body having been found. [19]
In October 2024, a report from the commission investigating the crash criticized the pilots' lack of familiarization regarding the scheduled route. The report also noted that the pilots were unaware of the weather conditions along the flight path. A succession of "major" errors led to the aircraft crashing. [7] As a result of the accident, single-engined aircraft were banned from flying in the Comoros. [20]
The Comoros archipelago consists of four main islands aligned along a northwest–southeast axis at the north end of the Mozambique Channel, between Mozambique and the island of Madagascar. Still widely known by their French names, the islands officially have been called by their Swahili names by the Comorian government. They are Grande Comore (Njazidja), Mohéli (Mwali), Anjouan (Nzwani), and Mayotte (Mahoré). The islands' distance from each other—Grande Comore is some 200 kilometers from Mayotte, forty kilometers from Mohéli, and eighty kilometers from Anjouan—along with a lack of good harbor facilities, make transportation and communication difficult. Comoros are sunny islands.
Moroni is the largest city, national capital, and seat of the government of the Union of the Comoros, a sovereign archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean. Moroni means "at the river". Moroni is the capital of the semi-autonomous island of Ngazidja, the largest of the three main islands of the republic. The city's estimated population in 2003 was 41,557 residents. Moroni, which lies along the Route Nationale 1, has a port and several mosques such as the Badjanani Mosque.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was a scheduled international flight serving the route Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville–Lagos–Abidjan. On 23 November 1996, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi by three Ethiopians seeking asylum in Australia. The plane crash-landed in the Indian Ocean near Grande Comore, Comoros Islands, due to fuel exhaustion; 125 of the 175 passengers and crew on board, including the three hijackers, died. This is the first recorded instance of a ditching utilizing a wide-body aircraft.
Azali Assoumani is a Comorian politician and military officer who has served as the President of the Comoros from 2002 to 2006 and again since 2016, except for a brief period in 2019. He became head of state after staging a coup d'état in 1999 and was elected president in 2002, 2016, 2019 and 2024. He also served as Chairperson of the African Union from February 2023 to February 2024. Assoumani's current presidency has been described as increasingly authoritarian.
The Comoro Islands are a group of volcanic islands in the Mozambique Channel, an arm of the Indian Ocean lying between Madagascar and the African mainland. Three of the islands form the Union of the Comoros, a sovereign nation, while Mayotte belongs to France.
Air Bourbon was a short-lived airline headquartered at Roland Garros Airport in Sainte Marie, Réunion.
The Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia is a twin-turboprop 30-passenger commuter airliner designed and manufactured by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. It was the first turboprop aircraft that had an APU.
Comores Aviation International is the flag carrier of the Comoros. It is privately owned and operates domestic scheduled services, as well as charters mainly to tourist destinations in southern and eastern Africa. Its main base is Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport, Moroni, with a hub at Ouani Airport.
Cape Cod Gateway Airport, also known as Boardman/Polando Field and formerly known as Barnstable Municipal Airport, is a public airport located on Cape Cod, one mile (1.6 km) north of the central business district of Hyannis, in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. This airport is publicly owned by the Town of Barnstable. It is Cape Cod's major airport as well as an air hub for the Cape and the Islands. The airport is served by scheduled commercial flights as well as charters and general aviation. Barnstable Municipal Airport served as a hub for Nantucket-based commuter airline Island Airlines until its shutdown in 2015.
Provo Airport, formerly Provo Municipal Airport, is a public-use airport on east shore of Utah Lake on the southwestern edge of Provo, in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is a small regional airport with domestic flights mainly to destinations in the western United States.
Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport is an international airport serving Moroni in Comoros. It is named after Prince Saïd Ibrahim. It is located north of the village of Hahaya.
The invasion of Anjouan, on March 25, 2008, was an amphibious assault led by the Comoros, backed by African Union (AU) forces, including troops from Sudan, Tanzania, Senegal, along with logistical support from Libya and France. The objective of the invasion was to topple Colonel Mohamed Bacar's leadership in Anjouan, an island in the Union of Comoros, when he refused to step down after a disputed 2007 election, in defiance of the federal government and the AU. The Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean has had a fractious history since its independence from France in 1975, experiencing more than 20 coups or attempted coups.
Yemenia Flight 626 was a flight on an Airbus A310-324 twin-engine jet airliner operated by Yemenia that was flying a scheduled international service, from Sana'a in Yemen to Moroni in Comoros, when it crashed on 30 June 2009 at around 1:50 am local time while on approach to Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew on board. The sole survivor, 12-year-old girl Bahia Bakari, was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for thirteen hours. Bakari was discharged from the hospital on 23 July 2009.
Comoro Islands Airline was a start-up airline based in the Comoros.
On April 9, 1990, Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2254, a scheduled passenger flight from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to Gadsden, Alabama, to Atlanta, Georgia, was involved in a mid-air collision with a Cessna 172 over Gadsden. The collision resulted in the death of the pilot and passenger of the Cessna 172.
Int'Air Îles is a regional airline based at Ouani Airport, Anjouan in the Comoros. It was founded in 2007 as Inter Îles Air and rebranded to its current name in March 2015. Using a fleet of six turboprop aircraft, the airline serves all three islands of the Comoros, the French territory of Mayotte, Tanzania, and Madagascar.
Air Comores SA was the flag carrier of the Comoros that operated from 1966 to 1995. The airline was 49% owned by Air France, with the remaining 51% owned by the Comorian state.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the Comoros on 30 April 2020, and by 4 May the first death was announced.
Events in the year 2020 in the Comoros.
Office de Radio et Télévision des Comores or ORTC is the national public radio and television company of the Comoros. It broadcasts a radio station and a television channel in Comorian, French and Arabic: ORTC-TV.
