My warmest thanks to the Amicale du Musée UTA for their authorization to import into this article part of their considerable work on the postal service of colonial Africa.

Address: http://www.utaasso.com/air_afrique.html

France, by its geographical position and by the extent of its colonial Empire, had to improve the speed of its connections with its overseas territories. All the colonial states understood the importance of this new mode of transport and devoted large sums to the creation and operation of airlines. Private companies could not, until 1932-1933, ensure a balanced operation, for lack of appropriate equipment. The objective was to reduce travel times: it took a month to connect France to Brazzaville or Tananarive by sea, while the plane reduced these times by seven to twelve days. But flying over inhospitable countries, deserts, savannas, tropical forests, without means of radio navigation or weather forecasts was dangerous.

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Thus in 1919 Captain Dagnaux made a crossing

road reconnaissance of the Sahara via the Hoggar

with Commander Vuillemin, then in Breguet 14 made the

e tour of the Mediterranean and carried out aerial reconnaissance

in the Sahara, still with Commander Vuillemin.

Dagnaux is then convinced that the only exploitable line which must serve our main colonies starts from Oran, passes through the Gulf of Guinea, serves Brazzaville and flies over the Belgian Congo to reach Madagascar.

The air lines to South America with Aéropostale and to Indochina with Air Orient were operating with 217 million subsidies, while the Algiers Congo Madagascar line was still not open.

All this imbroglio was finally resolved in 1934 by the creation of the Régie Air Afrique.

Four years had been lost, admittedly due to technical difficulties specific to

operation in difficult climatic conditions, but mainly because of

political difficulties, personal rivalries and financial groups between them.

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The French Trans-African line began at its end, at the opening of the line

Antananarivo-Andrafiavelo-Mozambique-Quelimane-Tête-Broken Hill, open to passengers

after the commissioning of two Bloch 120s in May 1935.

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Finally, on February 28, 1934, the Compagnie Transafricaine d'Aviation became the "Régie Air Afrique", state-owned with majority public capital, with the same staff. Under this regime, the state owned the planes and facilities and appointed the leaders. The first flight carrying mail left on September 7, 1934 and flights continued with Bloch 120s, taken from military orders, between Algiers and Brazzaville via El Goléa, Aoulef, Aguel'hoc, Gao, Niamey, Zinder, Fort-Lamy, Fort-Archambault, Bangui, Coquilhatville. On April 27, 1935, the bimonthly line was opened to paying passengers in connection with the Régie Malgache in Elisabethville and alternating with the Belgian Brussels-Congo service.

In July 1935 General Denain authorized the merger of the two Régies under the name of the Régie Air Afrique: the junction of the two Bloch 120s was finally made on November 14, 1935, the two planes carrying only mail. The two companies were administratively merged into the Régie Air Afrique, whose general manager was Jean Dagnaux. Régie Air Afrique was definitively founded by a decree of April 8, 1937, confirming Jean Dagnaux as general manager and appointing René Lefèvre as technical director, with Jean Assolant taking responsibility for the organization of the Malagasy domestic network. It became a public establishment of an industrial and commercial nature and was finally able to operate the France Congo line from one end to the other.

The stopovers of the line were thus gradually served: Algiers-El Goléa-Aoulef-Gao-Niamey-Zinder-Fort Lamy-Fort Archambault-Bangui-Libenge-Bumba-Stanleyville - Kindu-Kabalo – Elizabethville – BrokenHill - Tête-Mozambique-Maintirano - Antananarivo. At the same time, in 1935, Chargeurs Réunis created Aéromaritime.

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Jean Dagnaux had asked that aircraft with a better payload and higher speed than the Bloch 120 should be considered in the short term. " which she completed with two additional orders. All these planes were delivered in 1939.

It was in 1939 that Régie Air Afrique became an airline. It is probably around this date that it chose as its emblem the "winged griffin holding the world in its claws", an emblem which was taken up by the TAI.

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On February 21, Air Afrique opened a line, Gao, Timbuktu, Mopti, Segou, Bamako, connecting in Gao with Algiers Tananarive (Air Afrique lost a Gull in Timbuktu on May 23), while Air France opened Dakar Koalack Bamako in April with Wibaut 282 trimotors, authorized on a trial basis!

From the start of the war, the air transport companies were fully mobilized and placed under state supervision. September 3, 1939 led to the cessation of Air Afrique operations while Air France maintained most of its links with overseas territories. Air Afrique personnel withdrew to Algiers.

Operations then partially resumed. In November 1939, Air Afrique took over the Algiers, Gao, Brazzaville line by adding a stopover in Kano and extended the line to Antananarivo in March. At the end of December 1939, Air Afrique was authorized to carry passengers between Marseilles and Algiers on its Lockheed 14s, on behalf of Air France. In June 1940 Air Afrique disappeared.