Eritrean Airlines is an airline based at Asmara International Airport. Scheduled service had been discontinued since 2008, and the airline only operated a few hajj flights every year. It is wholly owned by the Government of Eritrea, the airline was restarted under new management in 2011.
[edit] History
The airline was established in 1991, but in name only, serving as the ground handling agent at Asmara International Airport and at Assab and Massawa and sales agent for other major airlines flying to Eritrea. In May 2002 it was decided to expand into airline services. So, in April 2003 (2003-04) a Boeing 767-300ER leased from Boeing was the first aircraft the airline took possession of;[1] it was named Queen Bee. A second Boeing 767, a –200ER series, was bought in mid-2004 for US$5.8 million.[citation needed]
The lease of the first Boeing 767 seems to have been replaced by an Airbus 320 in 2006 and then replaced again with a Boeing 757 in early 2007 and yet again replaced with a DC-9 in late 2007, ending up with an MD-83. The total fleet of the airline consists nonetheless of the one initially leased Boeing 767.[2]
In April 2003, Eritrean Airlines started regular services between Asmara and Frankfurt, Milan, Nairobi and Rome. In 2004, the airline added Amsterdam as another destination and in 2005, services began to Djibouti and Dubai. Meanwhile, the Nairobi route was dropped. By 2006 the flights to Amsterdam had been dropped while flights to Milan remained seasonal.[3] On September 21, 2006, Eritrean Airlines entered an accord with the Government of Pakistan to start direct flights between Eritrea and Pakistan. Eritrean Airlines received permission from the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan to start two flights a week each for Karachi and Lahore.[4] The deal has duly materialized since then, with the commencement of online Eritrean services to Lahore and Karachi via Dubai four times per week on each route, with full fifth freedom passenger and cargo traffic rights on Pakistan - Dubai sector.
The airline announced in 2008 that it was commencing seasonal services to Bamako, for Haj travellers.[5] Flights to Djibouti have been suspended since the end of 2008 due to renewed tensions along the two countries' border and flights to Frankfurt have been temporarily cancelled as of the summer of 2009.[6]
In June 2011, a senior Eritrean Foreign Ministry official said that the US Administration has applied pressure prohibiting companies from leasing aircraft to Eritrea. He stated that Washington is resorting to such illegal acts as part of its hostile attempts of stiffening anti-Eritrea sanctions, at a time when the Eritrean government is engaged in programs of buying and leasing of passenger planes under a new Pakistani management. [7]
Eritrean resumed operations on 16 July, they also introduced a new livery on the first A320 received which was used for the inaugural service to Dubai and Lahore. A second A320 was added in October and flights to Karachi were launched, they also plan to restore domestic services once the currently stored Dornier fleet is made airworthy. Long term fleet plans may include introduction of wide body aircraft like the Airbus A330, and new Boeing 737s to replace the A320[8].
[edit] Destinations
The company serves the following destinations, as of December 2011[update]:[citation needed].Future services to Assab and Massawa in Eritrea and to Frankfurt and Lagos are planned.[8]
As of December 2011, the Eritrean Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 18.8 years:
Eritrean are also said to have six Dornier aircraft, which are stored in Eritrea. [8]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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