Air Zaïre Air Zaïre Air Zaïre was the national airline of Zaire. Its head office was located on the grounds of N'djili Airport in Kinshasa. "Air Congo" was originally formed in June 1961 as the national airline of the Congolese Republic, with Sabena providing both technical assistance and equipment. Initially, the Congo government had a 65% participation in the airline, Sabena had a 30% holding, and Air Brousse and Sobelair held the balance. Services to Belgium were inaugurated in early 1963, linking Léopoldville with Brussels via Rome, using Boeing 707 equipment operated by Sabena on behalf of the carrier. By 1964 the
Sabena Flight 503 communication was cut off. The aircraft had crashed somewhere in the mountains of Rieti, Italy North-East of Rome and was now missing. Sabena itself got notified about the missing aircraft that same night at 23:15 but would not make an official statement until the morning of the following day. The airplane had crashed somewhere in the mountains of Rieti, Italy North East of Rome which were known for being difficult to access and also lay in a nature reserve where wolves roamed. The Italians immediately started a search and rescue mission to locate the missing aircraft and rescue its occupants.