Airline of the week

America is at war in Afghanistan. You may not think that you can fly into Afghanistan, but trust me you can still fly to Afghanistan! Ariana Afghan Airlines, the national airline of Afghanistan is based at Kabul, Afghanistan's Kabul International Airport (Khwaja Rawash) (IATA:KBL ICAO:OAKB). The was founded in 1955. In the 1970s Ariana many travel experts considered Ariana one of the top notch airlines in the world. During the Taliban regime the Taliban had control of the airline which halted all of its international flights in the 1990s.

In the 1990s when Ariana was still under Taliban control the fleet was reduced to a small handful of Soviet aircraft such as the Antonov An-26, the Yakovlev Yak-40, and only three American built Boeing 727. The 727 was on Ariana's longest domestic services. Later in October 0f 1996 Pakistan offered a maintence and operations base for the airline in Karachi, Pakistan. Three years later in 1999 the airline only flew to the following destinations which included Dubai, United Arab Emirates (IATA:DXB ICAO:OMDB) and Riyadh, Saudi, Arabia (IATA:RUH ICAO:OERK) also the airline flew cargo flights that were limited into China's western provinces. But imposed sanctions by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 forced Ariana to completly halt all of their overseas flights.

below: An Ariana Airbus A300B4-203
taxing on the runway at Kabul, Afghanistan's
International Airport (Khwaja Rawash).










Finally in November 2001 two months after 9/11 all of Ariana's flights were grounded. Later after the fall of the Taliban government, later following the tragedy of 9/11 and later the American invasion of Afghanistan in December 2001 the airline started rebuilding its services. One month later in January 2002 the United Nations sanctions were lifted and the airline began flying service again. Then later government of India gave Ariana three Airbus A300B4-200s which were being operated by Air India because the Indian Government thought of a gesture of good-will and building a step for foreign relations with Afghanistan. Then for the first time since 1999 Ariana flew their first international flight landed at New Delhi, India's Indira Gandhi International Airport.

below:The rear of an Ariana
Boeing 727-228/Adv parked at
the terminal of Kabul International
Airport (Khwaja Rawash).











Unfortunately Ariana later got banned from entering EU airspace but prior to the ban the managed fly into Frankfurt, Germany (IATA:FRA ICAO:EDDF). To book your flight go to www.flyariana.com.

below: An Ariana Antonov An-24RV
preparing to taxi at
Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan (ICAO:OAMS)











fleet breakdown

• 1 Antonov An-24RV (registration:YA-DAL)
  
• 2 Airbus A300B4-200
• 3 Boeing 727-200
• 1 Boeing 727-200F (for cargo flights only)
• 2 Boeing 757-200 (leased aircraft)
• 4 Boeing 737-700 (to be delivered in 2009)

Destinations breakdown

Tajikistan

• Dushanbe (Dushanbe Airport (IATA:DYU ICAO:UTDD)

China

• Urumqi (Diwopu International Airport (IATA:URC ICAO:ZWWW)

Afghanistan

• Kabul (Kabul International Airport (IATA:KBL ICAO:OAKB) (Also known as Khwaja Rawash Airport)
  
• Kandahar (Kandahar International Airport (IATA:KDH ICAO:OAKN)

Pakistan

• Islamabad (Chaklala International Airport (IATA:ISB ICAO:OPRN)

India

• New Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport (IATA:DEL ICAO:VIDP)

Turkey

• Ankara (Esenboğa International Airport (IATA:ESB ICAO:LTAC)
• Istanbul (Atatürk International Airport (IATA:IST ICAO:LTBA)

Azerbaijan

• Baku (Heydar Aliyev International Airport (IATA:GYD ICAO:UBBB) (Only used for fuel stops)

United Arab Emirates

• Dubai (Dubai International Airport (IATA:DXB ICAO:OMDB)
  
• Sharjah (Sharjah International Airport (IATA:SHJ ICAO:OMSJ)

Iran

• Tehran (Imam Khomeini International Airport (IATA:IKA ICAO:OIIE)

Russia

• Moscow (Sheremetyevo International Airport (IATA:SVO ICAO:UUEE)
  

Former destinations. These destinations below are destinations that Ariana has halted service to.

Aktyubinsk, Kazakhstan Amritsar, India Amsterdam, The Netherlands Beirut, Lebanon Frankfurt, Germany Herat, Afghanistan Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Kuwait City, Kuwait Lahore, Pakistan London, U.K. Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan Munich, Germany Paris, France Peshawar, Pakistan Quetta, Pakistan Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Rome, Italy and Tashkent, Uzbekistan

below: An Ariana Airbus A300B4-203
parked at Beijing China's Beijing Capital Airport
(IATA:PEK ICAO: ZBAA)















Below: An Ariana Boeing 727-228/Adv
Taking off from Sharjah, UAE.













Below: An Ariana Tupolev Tu-154M
Parked At Prague, Czechoslovakia's
Ruzyne Airport in 1988.
(IATA:PRG ICAO: LKPR)