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Ariana Afghan Airlines

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An Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 757.
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An Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 757.

Ariana Afghan Airlines is the national airline of Afghanistan, based in Kabul. It operates international and domestic passenger services.

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History

Ariana was established on 27 January 1955. Ariana during the 1970s was considered a top notch airline by many travel experts. The airline at that time had such equipment as Douglas DC-10s flying for them. Times looked bright for the airline. 
Then after the defeat of the Soviet army in Afghanistan in 1989, and the Taliban regime took over in 1996, Afghanistan faced substantial economic sanctions from the international sector. That, combined with the fact that the Taliban government took over the company and stopped all international flights, affected the airline's economic status through most of the 1990s, a period where their fleet was reduced to only a handful of Russian built An-26s, Yakovlev Yak-40s and three Boeing 727s, which were used on the longest domestic routes. In October 1996, Pakistan provided a temporary maintenance and operational base at Karachi. In 1999 UN sanctions forced the airline to suspend overseas operations and in November 2001 it was grounded completely.   


After the Taliban was forced from power in 2001 following the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, and subsequent U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the airline began to rebuild its operations in December 2001 and in January 2002 sanctions were lifted. As a gesture of good-will and step towards creating foreign relations with Afghanistan, the Government of India gave the state carrier three Airbus A300s which had been in service with Air India. Ariana once again has been able to fly to international cities, its first international flight in many years landing at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India. According to the airline's management, they are looking forward to re-establishing international service to most other cities it used to serve very soon.



Incidents and accidents

The airline hasn't been devoid of tragedies: In 1964, a Douglas DC-3 of Ariana crashed in Herat, killing all 21 passengers on that flight. In 1969, a Boeing 727 of Ariana was arriving to London Gatwick Airport from Frankfurt International Airport when it crashed into a house, killing 50 of the 66 persons aboard. In 1985, an AN-26 of Ariana was shot down by rebels near Kandahar, killing all 52 passengers. In 1989, a door opened aboard a 727 in the middle of a flight from Kabul to Zaranj, and six people were killed when the plane crashed onto a hill. In 1995, another AN-26 crashed, after running out of fuel at Jalalabad, and three passengers died. Another crash, this time of a YAK-40, happened in Jalalabad two years later while landing, and two people died. And on 19 March,1998, a 727 from Kandahar to Kabul crashed after hitting a mountain, and all 45 passengers died.


In February 2000, to escape a Taliban death squad, nine men, led by brothers Ali Safi and Mohammed Safi, hijacked a Boeing 727 containing more than 180 people. The plane was diverted through Central Asia and Russia before landing at Stansted Airport north of London, where the hijacking ended four days later with a peaceful surrender. The men were convicted in December 2001 of hijacking, false imprisonment and weapons offenses. They each served sentences of between 27 and 30 months, and have since been granted asylum. It was later found that the hijacking was a drama orchestrated jointly by the hijackers, crew and other passangers in hope of getting assylum in UK.



Destinations

Ariana operates services to the following international destinations (at July 2006):





Former 














Fleet

The Ariana Afghan Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (at July 2006):




Ariana Afghan Airlines has placed an order for 4 Boeing 737-700, which will be delivered in 2009. The 737-700 will be equipped with blended winglets as well.[link]



External links







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