[1] Air Congo was originally formed in June 1961 as the national airline of the Congolese Republic, with Sabena providing both technical assistance and equipment.

[2] Initially, the Congolese 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.

Jet service to Brussels was inaugurated in March 1963 utilising a Boeing 707 which was leased from Sabena, and in April 1963 the airline joined the International Air Transport Association, becoming the 94th overall member.

[6] On 29 November 1964, a Douglas DC-4 of the airline, leased from Belgian International Aviation Services crashed upon take-off from Stanleyville, killing seven of the fifteen people on board.

[6][8][9][10] Following the 1965 coup which brought Mobutu Sésé Seko to power, most of Sabena's property in the country was seized, and the Belgian airline had its traffic rights at Élisabethville cancelled.

On 25 November 1967, a Douglas DC-8 joined the airline's fleet, and it flew on routes from Lubumbashi-Kinshasa-Brussels-Paris or Rome, with the last sector being flown on alternate weeks.

[6] It was during this period that Zairian President Mobutu gained renown for commandeering aircraft belonging to the airline in order to transport himself and his entourage on shopping trips to Europe.

[6] In September 1983, Mobutu announced an austerity program, which would see some forty-seven parastatals, including Air Zaïre, being liquidated or reorganized to operate upon a commercial basis.

[23] The airline was declared bankrupt on 12 June 1995 by a Brussels court after incurring debts to the value of BFr1 billion, of which Sabena was a major creditor.

The ruling was disputed by President Mobutu, who said that a Belgian court did not have the right to declare a Zairian company bankrupt and threatened to close Sabena's office in Kinshasa in retaliation.

In response, the Belgian government offered the bankrupt carrier's landing rights to Scibe Airlift, an airline that was owned by a Mobutu family member.

[24][26][27][28] The airline was reorganized into Lignes Aériennes Congolaises, which began flights in 1997, the same year when Zaïre was renamed as the Democratic Republic of Congo.