at
Paris–Le Bourget Airport in 1977. of Air Gabon at
Charles de Gaulle Airport in 1978. Air Gabon was founded in 1951 as
Compagnie Aerienne Gabonaise operating regional flights out of
Libreville using
Beechcraft and
De Havilland aircraft. It became the national flag carrier in 1968, then renamed
Société Nationale Transgabon.
Compagnie Nationale Air Gabon was established in May 1977, after Gabon withdrew from the
Air Afrique consortium in December 1976. The new airline was formed from the nucleus of
Société Nationale Transgabon with the mandate to operate long-haul international services from Libreville. At the time of the airline's foundation, the fleet comprised three
Fokker F-28s, two
Douglas DC-6s, one
Douglas DC-4, one
de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo, and one
Sud Aviation Caravelle. Ownership in the airline was shared between the
Gabonese government (70%) and Sofepag (30%), an
Air France-associated company. In April 1977, the airline placed an order for a
Boeing 747-200 and
Boeing 737 at a cost of approximately
US$55 million. In 1978
President of Gabon Omar Bongo gave the airline his personal transport, a
Fokker F-28, for use on services. On 5 October the airline's Boeing 747, named ''
President Léon M'ba'', arrived as part of the
wet lease agreement signed the previous year. On 26 February 1979 one of the airline's Douglas DC-6s crashed into a swamp from
Moanda, killing the aircraft's three occupants. The DC-6s and DC-4 were replaced in 1979 by two
Vickers Vanguard turboprops, and the airline's international route network was expanded to
Marseille,
Nice,
Paris and
Rome. Regionally, Air Gabon operated to ten African countries, and served 26 destinations on its domestic network. The airline leased and chartered various single engine aircraft in the early 1980s to operate services to domestic destinations which saw sporadic service, and in 1982 a
CASA C-212 Aviocar operated with the airline for a short time. The airline ordered a
Lockheed L-100-30 Hercules in 1984 after it was given a loan by the
Export-Import Bank, which when delivered in late 1985 replaced the Vickers Vanguards. Initially, the launch of a new Gabonese national carrier as a
joint-venture with
Royal Air Maroc under the name
Air Gabon International was planned, but has never materialized. ==Fleet==