Early years

Postage stamp of Afghanistan from 1965 commemorating the 10th anniversary of Ariana. The logo features an Afghan swallow bird and a blue field representing precious lapis lazuli stones; it was personally designed by the then King of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah.^[8]

The airline was set up on 27 January 1955.^[9] It was established as Aryana Airlines with the assistance of Indamer Co. Ltd., which initially held a 49% interest, and the government of Afghanistan owned the balance.^[10] At the beginning, services were operated to Bahrain, India, Iran, and Lebanon, with a fleet of three Douglas DC-3s.^[10] In 1957, Pan American World Airways became the minor shareholder of the airline when it took over the 49% interest from Indamer.^[11] Domestic scheduled services started the same year.^[11] By April 1960 (1960-04), a fleet of three DC-3s was being used for linking Kabul with Amritsar, Delhi, Jeddah, and Karachi, as well as with some points within Afghanistan, while a single DC-4 operated the Kabul–Kandahar–Tehran–Damascus–Beirut–Ankara–Prague–Frankfurt service, so-called "Marco Polo" route.^[11] In the early 1960s, US$1,100,000 (equivalent to $11,000,000 in 2022) from US aid to Afghanistan was used to capitalise the company.^[12]

By March 1970 (1970-03), the airline had 650 employees. At this time, the fleet comprised one Boeing 727-100C, one CV-440, one DC-3 and two Douglas DC-6s that worked on routes serving the Middle East, India, Pakistan, the USSR, and Istanbul, Frankfurt, and London.^[13] Domestic services were then operated by Bakhtar Alwatana, which was established by the government in 1967 for this purpose.^[14]

An Ariana Afghan Airlines DC-10-30 is seen here on approach to London Heathrow Airport in 1980. Throughout its history, the airline operated a single aircraft of the type that was sold in the mid-1980s, following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.^[15]

The carrier's first widebody aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, entered the fleet in early October 1979 (1979-10).^[16] By March 1985 (1985-03), the aircraft fleet consisted of the DC-10 and two Boeing 727-100Cs.^[17] In the mid-1980s, during the Soviet–Afghan War, the carrier was forced to sell the DC-10 to British Caledonian, as the Soviets wanted the carrier to fly the Tupolev Tu-154 as a replacement.^[15] In October 1985 (1985-10), Ariana was taken over by Bakhtar Afghan Airlines, which became the country's new national airline.^[14][18] In 1986, Bakhtar ordered two Tupolev Tu-154Ms;^[19] the airline took possession of these aircraft in April 1987 (1987-04).^[18] In February 1988 (1988-02), Bakhtar was merged back into Ariana, thus creating an airline which could serve both short and long haul routes.^[20]

Operational crisis

An Ariana Afghan Airlines Tupolev Tu-154M in 1992.

Following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 1996 and the proclamation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the country faced substantial economic sanctions from the international sector during the Taliban regime. The sanctions, along with the Taliban government's control of the company and the grounding of many of the carrier's international flights, had a devastating effect on the economic health of the company through the 1990s. The fleet was reduced to only a handful of Russian and Ukrainian built An-26s, Yakovlev Yak-40s and three Boeing 727s, which were used on the longest domestic routes. In October 1996, Pakistan provided a temporary maintenance and operational base at Karachi. With no overseas assets, by 1999 Ariana's international operations consisted of flights to Dubai only;^[21] also, limited cargo flights continued into China's western provinces. However, sanctions imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in November 1999 forced the airline to suspend overseas operations.^[22][23] In November 2001 (2001-11), Ariana was grounded completely.^[24]

According to the Los Angeles Times:^[25]

With the Taliban's blessing, Bin Laden effectively had hijacked Ariana, the national civilian airline of Afghanistan. For four years, according to former U.S. aides and exiled Afghan officials, Ariana's passenger and charter flights ferried Islamic militants, arms, cash and opium through the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan. Members of Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network were provided false Ariana identification that gave them free run of airports in the Middle East.

According to people interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, Viktor Bout's companies helped in running the airline.^[26]

21st century

An Ariana Afghan Airlines Airbus A300B4-200 seen on approach to Frankfurt Airport in 2003. With registration YA-BAD this aircraft was written off as a result of an overrun episode at Istanbul Atatürk Airport in March 2007 (2007-03).^[27][28]

Following the overthrow of the Taliban government during Operation Enduring Freedom, Ariana began to rebuild its operations in December 2001 (2001-12).^[29][30] About a month later, the UN sanctions were finally lifted, permitting the airline to resume international routes again.^[31] In 2002, the government of India gave the carrier a gift of three ex-Air India Airbus A300s.^[23][32][33] Ariana's first international passenger flight since 1999 landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport in January 2002 (2002-01),^[34] followed by routes to Pakistan and Germany in June and October the same year, respectively.^[35][36][37] In 2005, India signed an agreement on aviation cooperation with Afghanistan, with Air India training 50 officials for Ariana.^[38]

All commercial flights were cancelled following the Taliban taking over the capital city of Kabul in 2021.^[39] Domestic flights resumed in September.^[40]

Current fleet

As of July 2023 the Ariana Afghan Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[50]

Historical fleet

Ariana operated the following equipment all through its history:^[51]