Safi Airways Co. (; ) was the first and largest privately owned

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 ...

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 ...

. The airline had its headquarters in Shahr-e-Naw,

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 ...

, Afghanistan, and an administrative office in the Dubai Airport Free Zone. The Afghan authorities ordered suspension of its operations in September 2016, after the airline failed to clear outstanding debt and taxes.

History

Safi Airways has been founded as a subsidiary of the Safi Group and in 2006 by its chairman and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, Ghulam Hazrat Safi. On 15 June 2009, Safi Airways commenced operations between the Afghan capital,

, and

Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport ( ) , is Germany's busiest international airport by passenger numbers, located in Frankfurt, Germany's fifth-largest city. Its official name according to the German Aeronautical Information Publication is Frankfurt Main Airpor ...

, Germany. This service was however suspended on 24 November 2010 due to an EU ban barring all Afghan carriers from flying into Europe and did since never resume. On 5 November 2009, Safi Airways took delivery of a pre-owned Airbus A340-300, which was phased out after suspension of the Frankfurt route due to the EU ban. In 2011, Safi Airways replaced their Boeing 737-300 aircraft with Airbus A32x aircraft. They intended to acquire an

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

for long haul routes in 2016 which however did not take place. Since February 2012, Safi Airways is the first Afghan airline to operate in compliance with

European Aviation Safety Agency The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Commission with responsibility for civil aviation safety in the European Union. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs inve ...

(EASA) requirements, IOSA (

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...

Operational Safety Audit) and

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

(International Civil Aviation Organization). On 5 September 2016, Afghan authorities forced Safi Airways to suspend all operations over unpaid debt and taxes.

Destinations

As of September 2018, Safi Airways served the following destinations:

Fleet

Final fleet

As of October 2016, the Safi Airways fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Former fleet

Safi Airways previously operated the following aircraft:

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Safi Airways Airlines formerly banned in the European Union Defunct airlines of Afghanistan Airlines established in 2006 Airlines disestablished in 2018 2006 establishments in Afghanistan 2010s disestablishments in Afghanistan