Air Somalia was a privately owned
airline based in Somalia. It was the first private airline owned entirely by Somalis.
Overview
The carrier was established in 2001.
It provided internal passenger and international services to destinations in Africa and the
Middle East.
Air Somalia is now out of service, and in 2002 its one
Tupolev Tu-154 they had was stored and later scrapped.
In 2002, Air Somalia reported it ceased all operations and has
liquidated
Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...
all of its assets.
History
Air Somalia was banned from flying to
Somaliland
Somaliland,; ar, صوماليلاند ', ' officially the Republic of Somaliland,, ar, جمهورية صوماليلاند, link=no ''Jumhūrīyat Ṣūmālīlānd'' is a ''de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still conside ...
in June 2001. It was suspected that the airline was practicing unsafe flights. Somali media accused the ban of being unfair, claiming that the reason for the ban was that the airline name included the word "Somalia" and possessed a Somali star. However, Somaliland Minister of Civil Aviation and Air Transport for Somaliland Abdillahi Duale disputed this.
Fleet
History
Air Somalia had only one aircraft, a
Tupolev Tu-154, which had gone through three registration changes while it was owned by Air Somalia. The aircraft was manufactured sometime in the 1990s. It was owned by five previous airlines,
Aeroflot
PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...
,
Latavio-Baltic International,
Latavio
Latavio (Latvian Airlines) was an airline based in Riga International Airport (RIX), Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 1992, after emerging from Aeroflot. The fleet generally consisted of Soviet-made Aeroflot airplanes. AirBaltic replaced it as t ...
,
Tavria and
Tavria Mak. It was finally given to Air Somalia on 21 December 2000. It was stored on 17 January 2002. The PlaneLogger website claims that the plane is being scrapped, and has not taken a flight since 2001.
However, the aircraft was seen at
Dubai International Airport on 31 October 2002,
and again at
Sharjah International Airport on 28 January 2003.
Registration changes
During its time with Air Somalia, the
Tupolev Tu-154 has had its
tail number changed four times. When the plane was delivered to Air Somalia, its registration number was UR-85546. On 21 September 2001, its registration was changed to ER-TAI, to later be changed back to UR-85546 on 3 November 2001. Its registration number was changed for the final time to ER-TAI on 30 December 2001.
Table
See also
*
Jubba Airways
Jubba Airways is a Somali airline. It operates domestic passenger and cargo flights within Somalia, as well as to destinations in the Middle East.
History
The carrier was founded in 1998 by one Calgary-based Somali entrepreneur, Said Nur Qai ...
*
Daallo Airlines
*
Somali Airlines
References
External links
Airlines established in 2001
Airlines disestablished in 2002
Defunct airlines of Somalia
2001 establishments in Somalia
Companies based in Mogadishu
{{Somalia-stub