Ariana Afghan Airlines Co. Ltd., also known simply as Ariana, is the flag carrier and largest airline of Afghanistan. Founded in 1955, Ariana is state owned and the oldest airline in the country.[3] The company has its main base at Kabul International Airport, from which it operates domestic flights and international connections to destinations in China, India, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. The carrier is headquartered in Shāre Naw district, Kabul.[4][5] Ariana Afghan Airlines has been on the list of air carriers banned in the European Union since October 2006.
History
Early years
The airline was set up on 27 January 1955. It was established as Aryana Airlines with the assistance of Indamer Co. Ltd., which initially held a 49% stake, and the government of Afghanistan owned the balance. At the beginning, services were operated to Bahrain, India, Iran, and Lebanon, with a fleet of three Douglas DC-3s. In 1957, Pan American World Airways became the minor shareholder of the airline when it took over the 49% interest from Indamer. Domestic scheduled services started the same year. By April 1960, a fleet of three DC-3s was being used for linking Kabul with Amritsar, Delhi, Jeddah, and Karachi, as well as with some points within Afghanistan, while a single DC-4 operated the Kabul–Kandahar–Tehran–Damascus–Beirut–Ankara–Prague–Frankfurt service, the so-called "Marco Polo" route. In the early 1960s, US$1100000 1960 from US aid to Afghanistan was used to capitalise the company.
By March 1970, the airline had 650 employees. At this time, the fleet comprised one Boeing 727-100C, one CV-440, one DC-3 and two Douglas DC-6s that worked on routes serving the Middle East, India, Pakistan, the USSR, and Istanbul, Frankfurt, and London. Domestic services were then operated by Bakhtar Alwatana, which was established by the government in 1967 for this purpose.
The carrier's first widebody aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, entered the fleet in early October 1979. By March 1985, the aircraft fleet consisted of the DC-10 and two Boeing 727-100Cs.[7] In the mid-1980s, during the Soviet–Afghan War, the carrier was forced to sell the DC-10 to British Caledonian, as the Soviets wanted the carrier to fly the Tupolev Tu-154 as a replacement. In October 1985, Ariana was taken over by Bakhtar Afghan Airlines, which became the country's new national airline. In 1986, Bakhtar ordered two Tupolev Tu-154Ms; the airline took possession of these aircraft in April 1987. In February 1988, Bakhtar was merged back into Ariana, thus creating an airline which could serve both short and long haul routes.
Operational crisis
Following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 1996 and the proclamation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the country faced substantial economic sanctions from the international sector during the Taliban regime. The sanctions, along with the Taliban government's control of the company and the grounding of many of the carrier's international flights, had a devastating effect on the economic health of the company through the 1990s. The fleet was reduced to only a handful of Russian and Ukrainian 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. With no overseas assets, by 1999 Ariana's international operations consisted of flights to Dubai only; also, limited cargo flights continued into China's western provinces. However, sanctions imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in November 1999 forced the airline to suspend overseas operations. In November 2001, Ariana was grounded completely.
According to the Los Angeles Times: "With the Taliban's blessing, Bin Laden effectively had hijacked Ariana, the national civilian airline of Afghanistan. For four years, according to former U.S. aides and exiled Afghan officials, Ariana's passenger and charter flights ferried Islamic militants, arms, cash and opium through the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan. Members of Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network were provided false Ariana identification that gave them free run of airports in the Middle East."
According to people interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, Viktor Bout's companies helped in running the airline.[8]
21st century
Following the overthrow of the Taliban government during Operation Enduring Freedom, Ariana began to rebuild its operations in December 2001. About a month later, the UN sanctions were finally lifted, permitting the airline to resume international routes again. In 2002, the government of India gave the carrier a gift of three ex-Air India Airbus A300s. Ariana's first international passenger flight since 1999 landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport in January 2002, followed by routes to Pakistan and Germany in June and October the same year, respectively. In 2005, India signed an agreement on aviation cooperation with Afghanistan, with Air India training 50 officials for Ariana.
EU ban
Due to safety regulations, Ariana was mostly banned from flying into European Union airspace in March 2006, with the European Commission allowing the carrier to fly only a single France-registered Airbus A310 into the member states; the ban was extended to the entire fleet in October of that year. The ban was confirmed in subsequent updates of the list released in late 2009 and March 2010. In November 2010, all Afghanistan-registered aircraft were banned from operating in the European Union. Ariana is still included in the list as of December 2024.[9]
EU ban
Due to safety regulations, Ariana was mostly banned from flying into European Union airspace in March 2006, with the European Commission allowing the carrier to fly only a single France-registered Airbus A310 into the member states; the ban was extended to the entire fleet in October of that year. The ban was confirmed in subsequent updates of the list released in late 2009 and March 2010. In November 2010, all Afghanistan-registered aircraft were banned from operating in the European Union. Ariana is still included in the list as of December 2024.[9]
Taliban takeover
All commercial flights were cancelled following the Taliban taking over the capital city of Kabul in August 2021.[10] Domestic flights resumed in September.[11] As of 2026, some international flights to the middle east and Turkey have resumed.
Destinations
As of December 2025, Ariana Afghan Airlines served five domestic and eight international destinations in Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, India, Pakistan, and China; most of the routes radiate from Kabul.[12]
Previously, Ariana also served flights to other European countries including to United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic and Netherlands.[13][14]
Fleet
Accidents and incidents
According to Aviation Safety Network, as of October 2012 Ariana Afghan Airlines has written off 19 aircraft involved in 13 events, seven of them being deadly. Casualties totaled 154 deaths.[17] The following list includes occurrences that led to at least one fatality, resulted in a write-off of the aircraft involved, or both.
See also
- List of government-owned airlines
- Transport in Afghanistan
External links
References
- Board of Management Ariana Afghan Airlines^
- Reward Club Card Ariana Afghan Airlines, retrieved 16 April 2012^
- Dan De Luce, Courtney Kube. Biden admin relies on Taliban-controlled airline to help Afghans flee Afghanistan NBC News, 8 June 2022, retrieved 17 March 2023