Air Mauritanie

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Air Mauritanie
IATA
ICAO
Callsign
MR MRT MIKE ROMEO
FoundedSeptember 1962 (1962-09)
Commenced operationsOctober 1962 (1962-10)
Ceased operations2007
HubsNouakchott International Airport
HeadquartersNouakchott, Mauritania
Websiteairmauritanie.mr

Air Mauritanie was the

carrier had its headquarters in Nouakchott.[1]

History

Air Mauritanie Boeing 737-200

Air Mauritanie was established in September 1962 (1962-09) as the

Nord 262 was ordered in 1965. The airline was reorganised in 1967, and shareholding was divided between the government of Mauritania (60%), Air Afrique (20%) and Union de Transports Aériens (UTA) (20%). Two Ilyushin Il-18s were bought in 1969, with the Soviets providing training and technical assistance; these aircraft were flown to Dakar, Nouadhibou and Las Palmas.[5]

At March 1970 (1970-03), the airline had 120 employees and operated a domestic network plus international services to the

carrier acquired two 40-seater F-227As valued at US$1,100,000 (equivalent to $6,795,951 in 2023) million.[7] In July 1974 (1974-07), the company was reorganised again and renamed Société d'Economie Mixte Air Mauritanie.[8] By March 1975 (1975-03), the government of Mauritania was the major shareholder of the company (60%), with the balance evenly split between Air Afrique and UTA.[2]

Two

Fokker F28 was lost in an accident while landing at Tidjikja Airport during a sandstorm.[5] Two ATR 42s were ordered in 1996 for replacement of the Fokker F28 aircraft.[9] These two aircraft were delivered to the company in June and September 1996 (1996-09).[10] Aimed at promoting African integration, Air Mauritanie extended its Nouakchott–Bamako route to the Ivory Coast in November 1999 (1999-11).[11]

Air Mauritanie Fokker F-28 Fellowship

At April 2000 (2000-04), the staff stood at 259. The fleet comprised a single Fokker F28-4000 that served

Zouerate. At this time, Air Afrique had a 20% participation in the airline.[12] In mid-2000, the Pan-African carrier boosted its shareholding in the company to 32%.[13]

Citing security concerns,

government of Mauritania created another carrier, Mauritania Airways, with the aid of private Mauritanian investors and Tunisair, which became the major shareholder (51%) of the newly created airline.[20][21]

By 2007, Air Mauritanie was so indebted that in September two aircraft were seized for debts with the leasing company,

Boeing 727-200.[17] Debts for leasing these three aircraft had risen to US$2,700,000 (equivalent to $3,967,453 in 2023) million.[17] Air Mauritanie ceased operations in September 2007 (2007-09) and was liquidated.[23] Two months later, Mauritania Airways started operations.[20][24]

Destinations

Air Mauritanie was based at Nouakchott International Airport.[25] The airline served the following destinations all through its history:

Country City Airport Notes Refs
Cape Verde Praia
Praia International Airport
 — [26]
France Paris Orly Airport — [25]
Gambia
 Banjul Banjul International Airport — [12]
Guinea-Bissau Bissau Osvaldo Vieira International Airport — [26]
Mali Bamako
Bamako–Sénou International Airport
 — [12]
Mauritania Atar Atar International Airport — [12]
Mauritania
Aioun el Atrouss
 Aioun el Atrouss Airport — [12]
Mauritania Kiffa Kiffa Airport — [12]
Mauritania Nema Néma Airport — [12]
Mauritania Nouadhibou
Nouadhibou Airport
 — [12]
Mauritania Nouakchott Nouakchott International Airport Hub [25]
Mauritania
Selibaby
 Sélibaby Airport — [26]
Mauritania Tidjikja Tidjikja Airport — [12]
Mauritania
Zouerate
 Tazadit Airport — [12]
Morocco Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport — [12]
Senegal Dakar Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport — [12]
Spain Las Palmas
Gran Canaria International Airport
 — [12]

Historical fleet

Air Mauritanie operated the following aircraft along the years:

Accidents and incidents

As of January 2014, Air Mauritanie experienced five accidents or incidents, according to

Aviation Safety Network. The only event that lead to fatalities occurred on 1994-7-1 during a landing accident.[28]
Following is the list of these events.

Date Location Aircraft Tail number Aircraft damage Fatalities Description Refs
6 July 1965 MauritaniaNouakchott Douglas C-47-DL Un­known
W/O
 0 Un­known [29]
14 March 1979 MauritaniaNouakchott Fairchild F-27A 5T-CJY W/O 0 Damaged beyond repair on landing at Nouakchott International Airport. [30]
1 July 1994 MauritaniaTidjikja
Fokker F28-4000
 5T-CLF W/O 80/93 The aircraft was completing a domestic Nouackchott–Tidjikja scheduled passenger service as Flight 625; the undercarriage failed on landing at Tidjikja Airport, causing the airframe to skid off the runway, crashing into a rock and bursting into flames. [31][32][33][34]
9 August 1996 MauritaniaNouakchott Fokker F28-4000 5T-CLG None 0 Hijacking episode. [35]
15 February 2007 SpainLas Palmas
Boeing 737-700
 Un­known None 0 The aircraft was hijacked by Mohamed Abderraman on a flight from Nouakchott to Las Palmas in the Spanish Canary Islands. The hijacker was allegedly seeking political asylum in France. Spain had identified him as a Mauritanian, while Mauritania said he was a Moroccan from the Western Sahara. The aircraft had 71 passengers and 8 crew on board. While explaining to Abderraman that the plane did not have enough fuel to reach France, the captain, Ahmedou Mohamed Lemine, discovered Abderraman did not speak French. When the Moroccan government denied the plane's request to land and refuel at Dakhla in the Western Sahara, the pilot decided to continue on to Las Palmas as planned. Afterwards the captain spoke to the first officer Satvinder Virk who was travelling as safety pilot in French, warning him that upon landing he was going to brake hard, to throw the hijacker off balance and give the crew a chance to overpower him. On landing, the captain did so, and the hijacker fell to the floor, dropping one of his pistols. First officer Virk and steward Thiam (entering first and immobilising the hijacker) poured boiling water from the coffee machine on him and beat him until they considered him sufficiently subdued. The hijacker was tied with life-jacket straps and handed over to the Guardia Civil. About twenty passengers were slightly injured when evacuating from the port aft escape slide. [36][37][38][39]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Nos agences". Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d "World airline directory – Air Mauritanie (Société Nationale Air Mauritanie)". Flight International. 108 (3445): 468. 20 March 1975. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013.
  3. ^
    ISSN 0015-3710. Archived
    from the original on 22 October 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Air Mauritanie (Société Nationale Air Mauritanie)". Flight International. 97 (3185): 469. 26 March 1970. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013.
  5. ^ a b c Guttery (1998), p. 122.
  6. ^ "World airline directory – Air Mauritanie (Société Nationale Air Mauritanie)". Flight International. 105 (3393): 16. 21 March 1974. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013.
  7. ^ "Air Transport". Flight International. 105 (3396): 451. 11 April 1974. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Air Mauritanie has bought two 40-seat F-227As with spares from International Air Lease. The aircraft, which cost a total of $1.1 million, will be delivered in May and June and will be the subject of a five-year maintenance support contract with, it is reported, Hughes Air West.
  8. ^
    ISSN 0015-3710. Archived
    from the original on 2 November 2012.
  9. Flightglobal. Flight International. 22 May 1996. Archived from the original
    on 26 June 2014.
  10. ^ a b Guttery (1998), p. 123.
  11. AllAfrica.com. The North Africa Journal. 19 November 1999. Archived
    from the original on 26 May 2024.
  12. ^
    ISSN 0015-3710. Archived
    from the original on 21 October 2013.
  13. Flightglobal. Flight International. 25 July 2000. Archived from the original
    on 26 June 2014.
  14. ^ "EU Parliament backs airline safety blacklist". Times of Malta. Reuters. 17 November 2005. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013.
  15. ^ Ray, Susanna; Rothman, Andrea (1 September 2005). "Swiss Ban Egypt, Armenia Airlines on Safety Concerns (Update1)". Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014.
  16. ^ Cendrowicz, Leo (19 August 2005). "EU to blacklist unsafe airlines". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014.
  17. ^ a b c "Crise à Air Mauritanie : Décision dans les 48 heures". Aujourd'hui Le Maroc. 10 October 2007. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013.
  18. Airline Business. 21 November 2006. Archived from the original
    on 26 June 2014. A 51% stake and management control is being negotiated with Air Mauritanie and RAM will also take on the lease of the airline's two 737-700s.
  19. ^ "Événement : La RAM prend le contrôle d'Air Mauritanie". Aujourd'hui Le Maroc. 21 August 2006. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013.
  20. ^ a b "Le nouvel opérateur mauritano-tunisien, Mauritania Airways effectue mercredi un vol inaugural". Babnet Tunisie. 3 November 2007. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014.
  21. ^ "Mauritania Airways a été créée, hier le lundi 18 décembre 2006, dans le cadre d'un partenariat tripartite entre la Mauritanie, TUNISAIR et le groupe mauritanien Bouamatou". Tustex. 19 December 2006. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  22. ^ "Deux avions d'Air Mauritanie bloqués à Orly". Aujourd'hui Le Maroc. 13 September 2007. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013.
  23. ^ a b "Other News - 10/23/2007". Air Transport World. 23 October 2007. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  24. ^ "TTI : lancement opérationnel chez quatre nouveaux clients". Boursier.com. 16 November 2007. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014.
  25. ^ a b c "Reseau". Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 21 October 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  26. ^
    ISSN 0015-3710. Archived
    from the original on 4 November 2012.
  27. Flightglobal. Flight International. 25 November 2003. Archived from the original
    on 26 June 2014.
  28. ^ "Accident record for Air Mauritanie". Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  29. Aviation Safety Network
  30. Aviation Safety Network
  31. Aviation Safety Network
  32. ^ "The world's worst air disasters". The Guardian. 25 July 2000. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014.
  33. ISSN 0015-3710. Archived
    from the original on 29 October 2013.
  34. ^ "Mauritania Crash Kills 94". The New York Times. 2 July 1994. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014.
  35. Aviation Safety Network
  36. Aviation Safety Network
  37. ^ "Fast-thinking pilot fools hijacker". NBC News. Associated Press. 16 February 2007. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014.
  38. ^ "Mauritania pilot outwits hijacker". BBC News. 16 February 2007. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014.
  39. ^ "Air Mauritania hijack ends, suspect arrested-radio". AlertNet. Reuters. 15 February 2007. Archived from the original on 6 August 2010.

Bibliography

  • Guttery, Ben R. (1998). Encyclopedia of African Airlines. Jefferson, North Carolina: Mc Farland & Company, Inc.
    ISBN 0-7864-0495-7
    .

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Air_Mauritanie&oldid=1226617016"