Somali Airlines

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Somali Airlines was the national airline of Somalia. The carrier was formed in March 1964 as the national airline of Somalia.

[edit] History

Using a leased Boeing 707, Somali Airlines operated flights from Mogadishu to London via Cairo. In 1974 it operated services to Frankfurt, Germany. Also, many passengers used the airline to fly to Johannesburg during the times when no other African airlines flew to South Africa.

The political unrest in Somalia led to the cessation of all international flights at the beginning of 1991 and all flights ceased at the end of 1991/beginning of 1992.

The airline no longer operates because of a civil war in Somalia. Somali Airlines operated to Nairobi and several other places, including Italy. In 2005 there were rumours that Somali businessmen had bought a Boeing 747-400. Later that year the plane was spotted at Roissy/Charles de Gaulle airport in France.

[edit] Code Data

• IATA Code: HH
• ICAO Code: SOM
• Callsign: SOMALAIR

[edit] Fleet

The airline began operations using Piper aircraft and later on these were replaced by the Fokker F27 Friendship. Historically, Somali Airlines used a total of 7 Boeing 707 which were replaced by the Airbus A310 from 1989. Also, the Dornier Do 228 was operated for a brief period of time.

Somali Airlines does not appear to operate any jet aircraft (at March 2005).