The new Congolese public airline, Congo Airways, launched on 20th October its commercial flights with the inauguration of the regular connection Kinshasa-Lubumbashi.

This first flight between the capital city and the second city of the Democratic Republic of Congo took off from the Ndjili international airport in Kinshasa shortly after 9H00 GMT, with 160 passengers on board.

According to the Communication officer of Congo Airways, Daniel Muamba, the company is planning daily return trips between the two cities.

Congo Airways currently has 2 short-haul Airbus A320 bought in June from Italian company Alitalia.

The new airline will start by flying to 8 cities in DR Congo and increase to 14 domestic destinations after 3 months.

The Congolese government is considering buying, later on, more aircraft, these ones new, from European manufacturer Airbus in order to reach destinations outside DR Congo, which only has one private airline registered on the black list of airlines established by the European Union.