Air Dabia

Air Dabia
	Air Dabia 747, C5-FBS, at Miami Airport in 1999.
Founded	1996, 26 years ago;
Ceased operations	1998
Focus cities	Brazzaville; Mali; Mecca;
Fleet size	3
Key people	Foutanga Babani Sissoko

Air Dabia was a short-lived Gambian airline which flew between 1996 and 1999; it had a three-ship fleet (one Boeing 747, notable as being the airframe involved in the United Airlines Flight 811 decompression incident, and two Boeing 727 aircraft). It was run by alleged fraudster Foutanga Babani Sissoko, whose conspicuous personal wealth had murky origins. In its short period of operation, there were allegations from numerous employees of excessive hours, improper rest provisions for crews (being expected to sleep on aircraft between trips) and pay discrepancies.^[1]^[2]

Establishment[]

In 1995, an African friend introduced Zaire-born driving school instructor Rene Dubois (who was living in Upstate New York at the time) to Foutanga Babani Sissoko who was attempting to launch an airline to be called Air Dabia. Sissoko immediately hired Dubois to be manager of Air Dabia, and furnished him with lavish gifts. In November 1995, Sissoko flew to New York City, introducing his family and guards to Dubois and his Polish-born girlfriend Ewa Adamek. He flew back to Africa in March 1996, distributing large checks to strangers at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Arrest and Incarceration[]

In late July of 1996, Serge Comminges and Moumouni Dieguimde, two Air Dabia employees, were sent to Miami to buy two helicopters. They acquired two Bell Huey helicopters from South Florida Aviation Investments in Opa-locka for $135,000 each. Over the next several days, the duo sped around South Florida trying to find a shipping company to send the helicopters to Africa immediately. According to Jim Robinson, owner of South Florida Aviation Investments, their frantic actions caught the attention of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He added, "The problem was that they were also being smart-mouths and calling attention to themselves. In addition to acting strange, they were making jokes about how they were going to overthrow various governments in Africa and shit like that." Refusing to wait for the necessary export license to be issued, the two loaded the helicopters onto a cargo plane at Miami International Airport.

It transported pilgrims from Mali to Mecca, and Malian refugees from Brazzaville.

The 747, C5-FBS, was abandoned at Plattsburgh International Airport and scrapped in place in 2004.^[3]^[4]