Eritrean Airlines
IATA ICAO Callsign
B8 ERT ERITREAN
FoundedMay 1991 (1991-05)
Commenced operationsApril 2003 (2003-04)
HubsAsmara International Airport
Fleet size1
DestinationsNone active
Parent companyGovernment of Eritrea (80%)
HeadquartersAsmara, Eritrea

Eritrean Airlines is the national airline of Eritrea.[1] Based at Asmara International Airport, it is wholly owned by the government of Eritrea.[2] Scheduled service had been discontinued since 2008, and the airline operated only a few hajj flights every year.[2] The airline was restarted under new management in 2011. In 2011, Nasair, a privately owned company, merged with government-owned Eritrean Airlines, to form Nasair Eritrea.[3] Eritrean Airlines has been banned from flying into the European Union (EU) since December 2012. As of July 2023, Eritrean Airlines had no scheduled service.

History

The airline was nominally established in May 1991,[4] serving as the ground handling agent at Asmara International Airport and at Assab and Massawa. It also acted as sales agent for other major airlines flying to Eritrea. In May 2002, it was decided to expand into airline services. In April 2003, an ex-EgyptAir 14-year-old Boeing 767-300ER was leased from Boeing and used to start operations between Asmara and Amsterdam.[5][6] It was the first aircraft the airline took possession of,[6] and was named Queen Bee.[7] The lease of the first Boeing 767 seems to have been replaced by an Airbus A320 in 2006 and then replaced again with a Boeing 757 in early 2007. It was again replaced with a DC-9 in late 2007, ending up with an MD-83.

A Tunisia-registered Airbus A320-200 in Eritrean Airlines new livery on short final to Dubai International Airport in 2012

In April 2003, Eritrean Airlines started regular services between Asmara and Frankfurt, Milan, Nairobi and Rome.[4][8] In 2004, the airline added Amsterdam as another destination and in 2005, services began to Djibouti and Dubai. Meanwhile, the Nairobi route was dropped. By 2006, the flights to Amsterdam had been dropped while flights to Milan remained seasonal.[9] On 21 September 2006, Eritrean Airlines entered an accord with the Government of Pakistan to start direct flights between Eritrea and Pakistan. Eritrean Airlines received permission from the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan to start two flights a week each for Karachi and Lahore.[10] Eventually service was operated via Dubai four times per week on each route, with full fifth freedom passenger and cargo traffic rights on the Dubai - Pakistan sectors.

The airline announced in 2008 that it was commencing seasonal services to Bamako, for Hajj travellers.[11] Flights to Djibouti were discontinued at the end of 2008 due to renewed tensions along the two countries' border, and flights to Frankfurt were cancelled in the summer of 2009.[12]

In June 2011, a senior Eritrean Foreign Ministry official said that the United States government had applied pressure prohibiting companies from leasing aircraft to Eritrea. He stated that Washington was resorting to such illegal acts as part of its hostile attempts of stiffening anti-Eritrea sanctions, at a time when the Eritrean government was engaged in buying and leasing of passenger planes under new Pakistani management.[13]

Eritrean Airlines resumed operations on 16 July 2011. It also introduced a new livery on the first A320 received, which was used for the inaugural service to Dubai and Lahore. A second A320 was added in October, and flights to Karachi were launched. The carrier also planned to restore domestic services once the currently stored Dornier fleet was made airworthy. Long-term fleet plans may include introduction of wide body aircraft like the Airbus A330, as well as new Boeing 737s to replace the A320.[14]

EU ban

Since December 2012, Eritrean Airlines has been included in the European Commission list of airlines barred from flying into the EU.[15]

Destinations

As of January 2020, Eritrean had scheduled service to four destinations: Cairo, Addis Ababa, Khartoum, and Jeddah.[16] As of July 2023, no flights are scheduled on those routes.[17][18]

Country City Airport Notes Refs
EgyptCairoCairo International AirportNo scheduled service[16]
EthiopiaAddis AbabaAddis Ababa Bole International AirportTerminated[19]
EritreaAsmaraAsmara International AirportHub[16]
GermanyFrankfurtFrankfurt AirportTerminated[20]
ItalyMilanMilan Malpensa AirportNo scheduled service[16]
RomeLeonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino AirportTerminated[20]
NigeriaKanoMallam Aminu Kano International AirportNo scheduled service[16]
PakistanKarachiJinnah International AirportTerminated[21]
LahoreAllama Iqbal International AirportTerminated[21]
Saudi ArabiaJeddahKing Abdulaziz International AirportTerminated[19]
South AfricaCape TownCape Town International AirportTerminated[22]
JohannesburgO. R. Tambo International AirportTerminated[22]
SudanKhartoumKhartoum International AirportTerminated[19]
Port SudanPort Sudan New International AirportTerminated[23]
United Arab EmiratesDubaiDubai International AirportNo scheduled service[16]

Fleet

Current fleet

The Eritrean Airlines fleet in July 2020 consisted of a Boeing 737-300.[24][25] Eritrean is also said to have six Dornier aircraft, which are stored in Eritrea.[14]

Former fleet

Eritrean Airlines former fleet
Queen Bee, Eritrean Airlines' first aircraft—a Boeing 767-300ER,[7] is seen here at Frankfurt Airport in 2004.
Eritrean Airlines Boeing 767-200ER on short final to Dubai International Airport in 2005

The airline previously operated the following equipment:[26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Juma, Victor (27 September 2011). "Kenya: KQ and Eritrea Airlines Set for Turf War Over the Nairobi-Asmara Route". Business Daily Africa. AllAfrica.com. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Profile on Eritrean Airlines". Centre for Aviation. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  3. ↑ "Eritrean Airlines and NasAir Merged | .:TesfaNews:". 11 October 2011. Archived from the original on 11 October 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. 1 2 "Eritrean Airlines Takes Off Next Month". AllAfrica.com. 24 March 2003. Archived from the original on 22 August 2003.
  5. ↑ "African airlines add 767s for European flights". Flightglobal. 6 May 2003. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Eritrean Airlines Begins Operations with a New Boeing 767". Boeing. 29 April 2003. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Eritrean Airlines". Archived from the original on 7 August 2020.
  8. ↑ "Asmara International Airport, Bologna". vymaps.com. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  9. ↑ http://www.flyeritrea.com Archived 2 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ "Pakistan, Eritrea to start direct flight". Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2007.
  11. ↑ "Eritrean Airlines Begins Flight to Mali to Transport Haj Travelers of the Islamic Faith From West Africa to Saudi Arabia". AllAfrica.com. 10 November 2008. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012.
  12. ↑ Items tagged with Frankfurt | capitaleritrea news Archived 7 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ Senior Official Exposes Washington’s Pressure To Undermine The Work Plans Of Eritrean Airlines Archived 16 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  14. 1 2 "Revival of the Eritrean Airlines". Shabait.com. 22 July 2011. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  15. ↑
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "SCHEDULE". Eritrean Airlines - Fly Eritrean Hospitality. Archived from the original on 10 April 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  17. ↑ "Asmara Yohannes IV Airport Departures & [ASM] Flight Schedules". Airportinfo.live. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  18. ↑ Flightradar24. "Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map". Flightradar24. Retrieved 20 July 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. 1 2 3 "Eritrean Airlines adjust B737 ACMI capacity in 4Q19". ch-aviation GmbH. 2 December 2019. Archived from the original on 6 December 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  20. 1 2 "Eritrean Airlines Cancels Frankfurt Service from Oct 2012". Airline Route. 11 September 2012.
  21. 1 2 "Can we emulate EA for a turnaround in PIA?". The News. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  22. 1 2 "Eritrean Airlines Starts South Africa Service". Airline Route. 8 May 2012.
  23. ↑ "Sudan: Eritrean Airlines Begins New Flight From and to Asmara-Port Sudan". AllAfrica.com. Shabait.com. 28 February 2015. Archived from the original on 20 June 2015. 
  24. ↑ "UPDATE 2-Ethiopian Airlines says it is in talks for stake in Eritrean Airlines". 19 July 2018. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  25. ↑ "Dining in piccola roma". The Reporter. 21 July 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  26. ↑ "SubFleets for: Eritrean Airlines". AeroTransport Data Bank. 18 June 2013. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
  27. ↑ "Eritrean Airlines Fleet". ch-aviation GmbH. "Aircraft and Fleet Lists - ch-aviation.com". Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  28. ↑ "Global Airline Guide 2017 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2017): 13.

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