Pamir Airways was a privately owned
airline
An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...
headquartered in
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) 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; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
,
[Pamir Airways entry at airlineupdate.com](_blank)
/ref> operating scheduled passenger flights out of Kabul International Airport
, nativename-r =
, image = Flightline at Kabul International Airport.jpeg
, caption = The flightline at Kabul International Airport in January 2012
, IATA = KBL
, ICAO = OAKB
, ...
. The company name is derived from the Pamir Mountains and translates "roof of the world".
History
As the first private airline in the history of the country, Pamir Airways was issued an Air Operator's Certificate
An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in plac ...
in 1994 by the authorities then in charge of civil aviation in the Islamic State of Afghanistan
The Islamic State of Afghanistan ( fa, , ''Dawlat-i Islāmī-yi Afghānistan'', ps, , ''Da Afghanistan Islami Dowlat'') was the government of Afghanistan,
established by the Peshawar Accords on 26 April 1992 by many, but not all, Afgh ...
. Flight operations were launched in 1995 with an initial fleet of one Boeing 707-300
The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first ...
and two Antonov An-12 aircraft.
In April 2008, Pamir Airways was taken over by a group of Afghan businessmen under the leadership of Sherkhan Farnood
Sherkhan Farnood ( – ) was an Afghan banker, Chairman of Kabul Bank until late 2010, which is Afghanistan's largest private financial institution with over 1 million customers. Farnood held 28.16% of the shares in the Kabul Bank. He also owne ...
, the president of th
Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce & Industries
and former chairman of Kabul Bank, who subsequently became chairman of the airline. Following the investment, Pamir Airways received a loan for $98 million from Kabul Bank, which was later exposed as one having indescribably poor lending standards (e.g. little to no interest required, no collateral required and repayment essentially optional) An effort was made to re-organize the Pamir assets, including its aging fleet of grounded planes, which could not be sold at high enough prices to reclaim the funds, though. As a consequence, the license of the airline was withdrawn, officially due to the poor safety record on 19 March 2011.
Destinations
Upon closure, Pamir Airways operated scheduled services to the following destinations:
*Afghanistan
**Herat
Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of 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 (''Selseleh-ye Safē ...
- Herat Airfield
, image = Plane of Pamir Airways at Herat Airport in 2010.jpg
, image-width = 250px
, caption = A Pamir Airways parked at the airport in 2010
, IATA = HEA
, ICAO = OAHR
, type = Public/Military
, owner ...
**Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) 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; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
- Kabul International Airport
, nativename-r =
, image = Flightline at Kabul International Airport.jpeg
, caption = The flightline at Kabul International Airport in January 2012
, IATA = KBL
, ICAO = OAKB
, ...
Hub
**Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
- Kandahar Airport
Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport, also referred to as Kandahar International Airport ( ps, د کندهار نړيوال هوايي ډګر) and by some military officials as Kandahar Airfield, KAF) , is located about south-east of the city Ka ...
**Lashkar Gah
Lashkargāh ( ps, لښکرګاه; fa, لشکرگاه), historically called Bost or Boost (), is a city in southwestern Afghanistan and the capital of Helmand Province. It is located in Lashkargah District, where the Arghandab River merges into ...
- Bost Airport
Bost Airport ( ps, د بوست هوايي ډګر; ) is an airport serving Lashkargah, a city in Helmand Province in Afghanistan. It is located on the east bank of the Helmand River, north of its junction with the Arghandab River. It is also west ...
**Mazar-i-Sharif
, official_name =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia
, pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif
, pushpin ...
- Mazar-i-Sharif Airport
*India
**Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
- Indira Gandhi International Airport
Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of , is situated in Palam, Delhi, southwest of the New ...
*Saudi Arabia
** Jeddah - King Abdulaziz International Airport
King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) ( ar, مطار الملك عبدالعزيز الدولي) is an international airport serving Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, also known as "Jeddah International Airport"( ar, مطار جدة الدولي).
T ...
**Riyadh
Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of th ...
- King Khalid International Airport
King Khalid International Airport ( ar, مطار الملك خالد الدولي ', ) is located north of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, designed by the architectural firm HOK, and Arabian Bechtel Company Limited served as the construction manager o ...
*Tajikistan
**Dushanbe
Dushanbe ( tg, Душанбе, ; ; russian: Душанбе) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (ru ...
- Dushanbe Airport
tg, Фурудгоҳи Байналмилалии Душанбе
, nativename-a =
, nativename-r =
, image = Dushanbe_International_Airport.svg
, image-width = 100
, image2 = Dushanbe Airport.jpeg
, image2-width = 250
, ...
*United Arab Emirates
**Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
- Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport ( ar, مطار دبي الدولي) is the primary international airport serving Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is the world's busiest airport by international passenger traffic. It is also the nineteenth-busies ...
During the Hajj season, Pamir Airways played a major role in taking Afghan pilgrims to Saudi Arabia (9,000 in 2004 and 15,000 in 2005).
Fleet
Over the years, Pamir Airways operated the following aircraft types:
Incidents and accidents
*On 17 May 2010, Pamir Airways Flight 112, an Antonov An-24
The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) ( NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Ir ...
, crashed into Salang Pass
The Salang Pass ( ps, د سالنګ لاره; prs, كتل سالنگ ''Kutal-i Salang'', el. ) is the primary mountain pass connecting northern Afghanistan with Parwan Province, with onward connections to Kabul Province, southern Afghanistan, ...
, 100 km north of Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) 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; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. The plane was en route from Kunduz Airport to Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) 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; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
, when it suddenly disappeared from radar.Afghan passenger flight reported missing
/ref>
References
External links
Official website
{{Airlines of Afghanistan
Defunct airlines of Afghanistan
Airlines established in 1994
Airlines disestablished in 2011
Airlines formerly banned in the European Union
1994 establishments in Afghanistan
2010s disestablishments in Afghanistan