Air Gabon was the national, state-owned airline of Gabon. It flew to a number of places in western and southern Africa, Europe, South America, and the Middle East from Libreville International Airport. The airline, established in 1951, went out of business in 2006.
After Gabon left the Air Afrique consortium in December 1976, Compagnie Nationale Air Gabon was formed in May 1977. With the intention of providing long-haul international services from Libreville, the new airline was established from the Société Nationale Transgabon's core. Three Fokker F-28s, two Douglas DC-6s, one Douglas DC-4, one de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo, and one Sud Aviation Caravelle made up the airline's fleet when it was founded. The airline was owned by the Gabonese government (70 percent) and Sofepag (30 percent), a company affiliated with Air France.
The airline ordered two Boeing 737s and one Boeing 747-200 for about US$55 million in April 1977. In 1978, Omar Bongo, the president of Gabon, gave the airline his personal Fokker F-28 aircraft to use on services. As part of the wet lease agreement that was signed the year before, the airline's Boeing 747, which is called President Léon M'ba, arrived on October 5th. One of the airline's Douglas DC-6s went down on February 26, 1979, 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from Moanda, killing all three passengers.