Air Mauritanie was the national airline of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, a country in West Africa that largely consists of Sahara desert. Shortly after Mauritania became independent from France, the country established an own airline in September 1962, with its home base in the country’s capital city Nouakchott. Operations commenced in October 1962 with assistance by Spantax and scheduled services started in April 1963. The first aircraft was DC-3A 5T-CAC, a pre-WW II model that was rare already in those days. Initially only domestic destinations were served out of Nouakchott and Nouadhibou, the country’s second largest city. In 1967 the airlines UTA and Air Afrique acquired a 20% interest in Air Mauritanie each, while the majority of shares remained in the hands of the Mauritanian government. Over the next years more DC-3/C-47s followed and also few DC-4s entered the fleet. In 1969 a single Ilyushin IL-18 was acquired. These larger aircraft were used to open international services to Dakar in Senegal and Las Palmas on the Canary Islands. From 1974 on turboprops took over from the Douglas piston airliners on both the domestic and regional routes. In 1983 Air Mauritania entered the jet age with two Fokker F28 Fellowships that became the workhorses of the fleet during many years.

Gradually Air Mauritanie could expand its international network to more destinations in West Africa, among others Bamako (Mali), Casablanca (Morocco), Banjul (Gambia) and Abidjan (Ivory Coast). In 1996 two ATR-42 were ordered as replacements of the F28s, but both left the fleet two years later. After the first Boeing B737 was added to the fleet, Paris was added as the first non-African destination in 2002. The route map shows the network in 2005.

In 2003 a single B727 was added to the fleet and although this aircraft was in full Air Mauritanie livery, it was actually the VIP aircraft of the government of Mauritania, donated by the state of Qatar. After slightly more than one year it was withdrawn from use and parked in France.

Meanwhile, Air Afrique had increased their interest in Air Mauritania to 41% and in 2000 the airline was privatized to local and foreign companies. Air Afrique filed for bankruptcy in late 2001 and withdrew from Air Mauritanie. In 2006 Royal Air Maroc purchased 51% of Air Mauritanie, but the airline continued to suffer from financial difficulties. It had to cease operations in September 2007 and eventually was liquidated. Few months later, Mauritania Airways took over as the Mauritanian flag carrier.

Air Mauritanie Fokker fleet

The Fokker, or rather Fairchild, era for Air Mauritanie started in 1974 when two Friendships were obtained second-hand. Later these were supplemented with two other Fairchilds and one F-27 was lost (see below).

In 1983 Air Mauritanie ordered two pre-owned F28s from Fokker and these served on the major routes for about ten years, when one crashed (see below). The airline leased two other F28s for some months as a replacement; first an F28 from TAT for half a year, followed by a Royal Swazi aircraft until the end of 1995. In 1999, another F28 was acquired for increasing the capacity.

Air Mauritanie Fokker incidents and accidents

• Fairchild F-27A 5T-CJY crashed on 14 March 1979 in Nouakchott while landing in a sandstorm. All passengers and crew survived. Details on the crash are unknown, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
• On 1 July 1994 F28 Fellowship 5T-CLF performed flight MR251 from Nouakchott to Tidjikja. On approach to Tidjikja airport, the crew encountered poor visibility due to a sandstorm. They were unable to see the runway and performed a go-around procedure. Despite that the weather conditions did not improve the crew attempted a second approach. At about 25 meters altitude, the aircraft suddenly nosed down and violently struck the runway. The F28 touched down so heavily that the undercarriage was torn off. The aircraft veered off the runway, struck a rock and burst into flames. All four crew and 76 passengers were killed and only 13 passengers survived the crash. Later it appeared that at the time of the accident, the visibility and the RVR were below allowable limits, so the crew should have diverted to an alternate destination. This F28 crash is the worst Fellowship accident in history.
• On 9 August 1996 Fellowship 5T-CLG was en route from Nouakchott to Las Palmas when a man, armed with a gun, entered the cockpit and demanded the captain to fly to Morocco. The pilot could disarm the hijacker but a shot was fired and the bullet ended up in the roof of the cockpit. The aircraft returned to Nouakchott and the hijacker was handed over to the police. There were no injuries and only minor damage.

Air Mauritanie pictures

Fairchild F-27A 5T-CJU (65) in the first livery. (Kjell Nilsson; Las Palmas, 20 November 1978)

Fairchild F-27A 5T-CJT (62) in the second livery. (Richard Vandervord; Southend, April 1980)

Air Mauritanie Fairchild FH-227 5T-CJZ (542), still in the basic Wien Air Alaska colors. Six months later overhaul was completed and the aircraft repainted in the second livery. (Richard Vandervord; Southend, November 1980)

Fellowship 5T-CLF (11092) showing the airline name in Latin script on the right-hand side. (Eddy Cuperus; Rotterdam, early 1990s)

Sistership 5T-CLG (11093) with titles in Arabic script on the left-hand side. (Marco Dotti; Las Palma, 31 December 1998)

After one of their own F28s was lost, Air Mauritanie leased F-GDSK (11179) from TAT for a few months and applied titles only. (unknown photographer; Nouakchott, October 1994)

In 1995 Air Mauritanie leased F28-3000 3D-ALN (11136) and operated it in full Royal Swazi colors, with small titles behind the passenger door. (unknown photographer; unknown location, May 1995)

Credits

• ATDB database https://aerotransport.org, accessed 20-02-2026.
• Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Mauritanie accessed 03-04-2026.
• Internet Archive, the wayback machine
• Aviation Safety Network https://aviation-safety.net/asndb/type/F28 accessed 01-04-2026
• Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives, https://www.baaa-acro.com/. Accessed 01-04-2026