Air Congo adds route

Air Congo says it will start flights between Kinshasa and Johannesburg on May 1, giving the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s new national airline a scheduled link to South Africa. (air-congo.com) The carrier said the service will run twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays, and listed a round-trip fare of about $525 in its announcement. Air Congo’s booking and schedule pages now show the route as part of its network. (air-congo.com) Johannesburg service pushes Air Congo beyond its initial domestic buildout. On its corporate page, the airline says it was founded in 2024 and began operations on December 1, 2024. (air-congo.com) Air Congo is owned 51% by the Democratic Republic of the Congo government and 49% by Ethiopian Airlines, which said at launch that it would manage the carrier. That structure makes the Johannesburg route an early test of a state-backed airline trying to add regional traffic quickly. (air-congo.com) (corporate.ethiopianairlines.com) The route connects N’djili International Airport, which Kinshasa airport says is the country’s largest airport, with O.R. Tambo International Airport, which Airports Company South Africa calls the biggest and busiest airport in Africa. That gives Air Congo access to one of the continent’s main long-haul and regional connecting points. (aeroport-kinshasa.com) (airports.co.za) O.R. Tambo handled more than 21 million passengers in the figures published by Airports Company South Africa, with capacity for 28 million a year. The airport says 41 airlines serve it across five continents. (airports.co.za) Kinshasa-Johannesburg is already a served city pair, with FlightConnections listing nonstop operators including South African Airways, ASKY Airlines and Air Côte d’Ivoire as of April 17, 2026. Air Congo’s entry adds another option on a business-heavy Central Africa-to-Southern Africa corridor. (flightconnections.com) For Air Congo, the next marker is simple: whether a twice-weekly schedule from May 1 can hold enough traffic to become a permanent foothold on one of Africa’s busiest aviation links. (air-congo.com)