Bakhtar Afghan Airlines is an

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, 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. In 1985 the company absorbed

Ariana Afghan Airlines 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. The company has its main base at Kabul Interna ...

and became Afghanistan's sole airline company. In 1988 the Ariana and Bakhtar brands merged. However, the airline relaunched in 2020.

Destinations

Bakhtar Afghan Airlines Boeing 727 Martin-2

Bakhtar Afghan Airlines offer scheduled flights to the following destinations: *

Bamyan Bamyan (), also spelled Bamian or Bamiyan, is the capital of Bamyan Province in central Afghanistan. Its population of approximately 100,000 people makes it the largest city in Hazarajat. Bamyan is at an altitude of about above sea level. The ...

–

Bamyan Airport Bamyan Airport , officially named Shahid Mazari Airport, is located in the city of Bamyan, which is the capital of Bamyan Province in Afghanistan. It is a domestic airport under the country's Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation (MoTCA), and ...

* Chaghcharan – Chaghcharan Airport * Darwaz – Darwaz Airport * Fayzabad – Fayzabad Airport *

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

– Herat Airfield *

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

King Abdulaziz International Airport King Abdulaziz International Airport (IATA airport code, IATA: JED, ICAO airport code, ICAO: OEJN, colloquially referred to as Jeddah Airport, Jeddah International Airport, or KAIA), is a major international airport serving the cities of Jedda ...

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

–

Kabul International Airport Kabul International Airport () is located in the northern part of Kabul, Afghanistan. It is one of the country's main international airports, capable of housing over a hundred military and civilian aircraft. It is currently operated by UAE-base ...

(base) *

Kunduz Kunduz (; ; ) is a city in northern Afghanistan and the capital of Kunduz Province. The city has an estimated population of about 268,893 as of 2015, making it about the List of cities in Afghanistan, seventh largest city of Afghanistan, and the ...

–

Kunduz Airport Kunduz Airport is located about southeast of Kunduz (also spelled Konduz), the capital of Kunduz Province in Afghanistan. It is a domestic airport under the country's Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation (MoTCA), and serves the population ...

* Khwahan – Khwahan Airport *

Maymana Maymana ( Persian/ Uzbek/Pashto: ) is the capital city of Faryab Province in northwestern Afghanistan, near the Afghanistan–Turkmenistan border. It is approximately northwest of the country's capital Kabul, and is located on the Maymana Riv ...

–

Maymana Airport Maymana Airport is a public use airport located near Maymana, Faryab, Afghanistan. Other airfields close by are Andkhoy Airport, Sheberghan Airport, Chaghcharan Airport, Qala-i-Naw Airport and Kala-I-Mor Airport. Airlines and destinations As ...

Mazar-i-Sharif Mazar-i-Sharīf ( ; Dari and ), also known as Mazar-e Sharīf or simply Mazar, is the fifth-largest city in Afghanistan by population, with the estimates varying from 500,000-680,000. It is the capital of Balkh province and is linked by highway ...

–

Mazar-i-Sharif Airport Mazar-e-Sharif International Airport (, ''Maydâne Hawâyiye Mazâre Šarif''; ) , officially called Mawlana Jalaluddin Mohammad Balkhi International Airport, is located about east of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, which is around 15 min ...

* Shegnan – Sheghnan Airport Flights were operated using

Yakovlev Yak-40 The Yakovlev Yak-40 (; NATO reporting name: Codling) is a regional jet designed in Soviet Union by Yakovlev. The trijet's maiden flight was in 1966, and it was in production from 1967 to 1981. It was introduced to service in 1968, with export mo ...

de Havilland Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada in the mid-1960s and still in production today. Built by De Havilland Canada from 1965 to 1988, Viking Ai ...

aircraft.

Accidents and incidents

*On 25 January 1972, a Bakhtar

(

registered Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

YA-KAD) was damaged beyond repair when its hit trees during approach of Khost Airfield near the Afghan town of

Khost Khōst () is the capital of Khost Province in Afghanistan. It is the largest city in the southeastern part of the country, and also the largest in the region of Loya Paktia. To the south and east of Khost lie Waziristan and Kurram Agency, Kurram i ...

. *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

, killing two passengers and two of the three crew members on board. *On 10 March 1983, a Bakhtar Twin Otter (registered YA-GAZ) operating a domestic flight from

Uruzgan Uruzgan (Pashto: ; Dari: ), also spelled as Urozgan or Oruzgan, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. Uruzgan is located in the center of the country. The population is 436,079, and the province is mostly a tribal society. Tarinkot ...

crashed during a thunderstorm near the town of

Ghazni Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...

, killing all 17 passengers and 2 crew members on board. *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. *On 4 September 1985 (during the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

), a Bakhtar

Antonov An-26 The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.Gordon, Yefim. Komissarov, Dmitry & Sergey. "Antonov's Turboprop Twins ...

(registered YA-BAM) was shot down by a

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

near

Kandahar Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

. The aircraft was carrying 47 passengers and 5 crew members on a scheduled flight from Kandahar to Farah. There were no survivors. *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.Bakhtar 1987 shoot-down incident at the Aviation Safety Network
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2020-2021 relaunch

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

References

External links

{{Airlines of Afghanistan 1967 establishments in Afghanistan 1988 disestablishments in Afghanistan Defunct airlines of Afghanistan Airlines established in 1967 Airlines disestablished in 1988