Bakhtar Afghan Airlines

Bakhtar Afghan Airlines

IATA ICAO Call sign BM [1] BFO Bakhtar
Founded	1967 (as Bakhtar Afghan Airlines)
Ceased operations	1988 (merged into Ariana Afghan Airlines) Relaunched in 2020, operating by Ariana Afghan Airlines
Operating bases	Kabul International Airport
Headquarters	Afghanistan
Website	https://bakhtarairline.com/

Bakhtar Afghan Airlines is an airline from Afghanistan, which offers domestic flights. The company was founded in 1967 as Bakhtar Airlines, a name it kept until 1985, when it was renamed Bakhtar Afghan Airlines by Pashtun governments. ^{[ citation needed ]} In 1985 the company absorbed Ariana Afghan Airlines and became Afghanistan's sole airline company. ^[2] In 1988 the Ariana and Bakhtar brands merged. However, the airline relaunched in 2020. ^[3]

Destinations

A Boeing 727 of Bakhtar Afghan Airlines at Frankfurt Airport in the late 1980s.

Bakhtar Afghan Airlines offer scheduled flights to the following destinations: ^[4]

• Bamyan – Bamyan Airport
• Chaghcharan – Chaghcharan Airport
• Darwaz – Darwaz Airport
• Fayzabad – Fayzabad Airport
• Herat – Herat Airfield
• Jeddah - King Abdulaziz International Airport
• Kabul – Kabul International Airport (base)
• Kunduz – Kunduz Airport
• Khwahan – Khwahan Airport
• Maymana – Maymana Airport
• Mazar-i-Sharif – Mazar-i-Sharif Airport
• Shegnan – Sheghnan Airport

Flights were operated using Yakovlev Yak-40 or de Havilland Twin Otter aircraft.

Accidents and incidents

• On 25 January 1972, a Bakhtar Yakovlev Yak-40 (registered YA-KAD) was damaged beyond repair when its hit trees during approach of Khost Airfield near the Afghan town of Khost. ^[5]
• On 18 April 1973, a Bakhtar Twin Otter (registered YA-GAT) carrying 16 passengers (most of whom were American or Canadian citizens) crashed upon take-off at Bamyan Airport, killing two passengers and two of the three crew members on board. ^[6]
• On 10 March 1983, a Bakhtar Twin Otter (registered YA-GAZ) operating a domestic flight from Kabul to Uruzgan crashed during a thunderstorm near the town of Ghazni, killing all 17 passengers and 2 crew members on board. ^[7]
• On 8 January 1985, another Bakhtar Twin Otter (registered YA-GAY) was damaged beyond repair in a landing incident at Bamyan Airport. There were no fatalities among the 17 passengers and 3 crew members. ^[8]
• On 4 September 1985 (during the Soviet–Afghan War), a Bakhtar Antonov An-26 (registered YA-BAM) was shot down by a surface-to-air missile near Kandahar. The aircraft was carrying 47 passengers and 5 crew members on a scheduled flight from Kandahar to Farah. There were no survivors. ^[9]
• On 11 June 1987, another Bakhtar An-26 (registered YA-BAL) was shot down by a missile near Khost, killing 53 out of the 55 people on board. The aircraft had been on a flight from Kandahar to Kabul. Rebels had downed the aircraft, thinking that it was a military Ilyushin Il-14. ^[10]

2020-2021 relaunch

Bakhtar Airlines was relaunched in 2020 for domestic flights. The new company operates a single Boeing 737-500 leased from Ariana Afghan Airlines.

References

1. 5th Information on Bakhtar Airlines at the Aviation Safety Network
2. Flight International. 23 May 1987. 5.
3. Fitri, Khwaja Basir (26 October 2020). "Bakhtar Afghan Airlines back in business" . Retrieved 7 January 2025.
4. Bakhtar 1975 timetable
5. Bakhtar 1972 incident at the Aviation Safety Network
6. Bakhtar 1973 crash at the Aviation Safety Network
7. Bakhtar 1983 accident at the Aviation Safety Network
8. 1985 Bakhtar incident at the Aviation Safety Network
9. 1985 Bakhtar shoot-down incident at the Aviation Safety Network
10. Bakhtar 1987 shoot-down incident at the Aviation Safety Network

External links

Media related to Bakhtar Afghan Airlines at Wikimedia Commons