Bakhtar Afghan Airlines

Bakhtar Afghan Airlines
Boeing 727 YA-FAU
IATA code :	BJ
ICAO code :	BYJ
Call sign :
Founding:	1967 (as Bakhtar Alwatana)
Operation stopped:	1988 (merged with Ariana Afghan Airlines )
Seat:	Kabul  Afghanistan
Home airport :	Kabul International Airport
Fleet size:
Aims:	National, later also internationally
Bakhtar Afghan Airlines ceased operations in 1988 (merged with Ariana Afghan Airlines ) . The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

Bakhtar Afghan Airlines was an airline from Afghanistan that initially offered domestic flights. Based on an ICAO study, it was founded in 1967 as Bakhtar Alwatana by the Afghan government. The aim was to massively expand domestic air traffic, which was previously underdeveloped, especially to the country's rugged and inaccessible mountain regions. Bakhtar was a "development aid carrier", with the financing of which the ICAO helped as well as with the construction of suitable airports. This name was retained until 1985, when the company was renamed Bakhtar Afghan Airlines . Since January 1, 1971, Bakhtar was the only domestic company, all domestic destinations were transferred from the Ariana to Bakhtar. In 1988 the company was merged with Ariana Afghan Airlines .

Destinations

In 1975 Bakhtar offered Afghan Airlines flights to the following destinations:

• Bamyan
• Chaghcharan
• Darwaz
• Fayzabad
• Herat
• Kabul
• Kunduz
• Chwahan
• Maymana
• Mazar-e Sharif
• Shegnan

The domestic flights were carried out at this time with Jakowlew Jak-40 or de Havilland Twin Otter . Later destinations were u. a. additionally Kandahar and Farah .

fleet

After the establishment, three DHC-6s were used. In 1971 Bakhtar received three Jak-40s, which meant that other cities could be included in the national flight network. From 1981 the fleet park was expanded with the Antonov An-24 and Antonow An-26 . After the Ariana ceased operations on October 25, 1985, Bakhtar took over both the fleet and the international routes. Two brand new Tupolev Tu-154M were added to the two Boeing 727-100Cs . The following aircraft belonged to the fleet:

Antonov An-24

Antonov An-26

• YA-BAL
• YA-BAM

Boeing 727-100C

• YA-FAU Boeing 727-113C
• YA-FAW Boeing 727-155C

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter

• YA-GAT
• YA-GAY
• YA-GAZ

Yakovlev Yak-40

• YA-KAB (destroyed in a mortar attack on Kabul airport on August 1, 1992)
• YA-KAD

Tupolev Tu-154M

• YA-TAR

Incidents

• On January 25, 1972, the Jakowlew Jak-40 YA-KAD was irreparably damaged when it brushed trees on its approach to the airfield in Khost .
• On April 18, 1973, the de Havilland Twin Otter YA-GAT crashed while taking off from Bamyan . Of the 16 passengers, most of them Americans and Canadians, two and two of the three crew members died.
• On March 10, 1983, the Twin Otter YA-GAZ crashed during a storm on a domestic flight from Kabul to Orūzgān near the city of Ghazni . All 17 passengers and the two crew members died.
• On January 8, 1985, the Twin Otter YA-GAY was irreparably damaged in a landing accident in Bamyan. Nobody was killed on board.
• On September 4, 1985, during the war in Afghanistan , the Antonov An-26 YA-BAM was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile near Kandahar . On board were 47 passengers and five crew members on a scheduled flight from Kandahar to Farah . There were no survivors.
• On June 11, 1987, another An-26 (YA-BAL) was shot down by a rocket near the town of Khost, killing 53 of the 55 people on board. The machine was on a flight from Kandahar to Kabul.

See also

• Former Airlines List (Asia)

Web links

Commons : Bakhtar Afghan Airlines  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Information on Bakhtar Afghan Airlines at Aviation Safety Network
2. ↑ Note from Planespotters
3. ↑ Note from Ariana ( Memento of the original from October 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ Information on societies from Afghanistan at airlinehistory.co.uk
5. ↑ Bakhtar flight plan 1975
6. ↑ Photo at airliners.net
7. ↑ Photo at Flugzeugbilder.de
8. ↑ Photo and text at Planes.cz ( memento of the original from March 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ Note at planespotters.net
10. ↑ Bakhtar accident of 1972 at Aviation Safety Network
11. ↑ Bakhtar crash in 1973 at Aviation Safety Network
12. ^ Bakhtar accident in 1983 at the Aviation Safety Network
13. ^ Accident at the Aviation Safety Network
14. ↑ 1985 Bakhtar shot down at Aviation Safety Network
15. ↑ Bakhtar 1987 shot down at Aviation Safety Network