Air West

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For the Sudanese airline with a similar name see Air West Express

For the USA airline with a similar name see Hughes Airwest

Air West, Co is an airline based in Khartoum, Sudan. It operates domestic passenger services and international cargo charters. Its main base is Khartoum International Airport, with a hub at Sharjah International Airport. ^[1] This airline has no connection to Hughes Airwest.

Contents 1 Code Data 2 History 3 Incidents and accidents 4 Fleet 5 Blacklist 6 References

[edit] Code Data

• ICAO Code: AWZ ^[2]

[edit] History

The airline was established in April 1992 and started operations in October 1992. It is owned by Saif Omer (90%), Chairman and President of the airline, and Housam Saif (10%). ^[1] Air West was the first Sudanese airline to start to fly between Khartoum and Rumbek, where the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) has its headquarters. ^[3]

[edit] Incidents and accidents

On February 3, 2005, an Air West Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft, owned by East-West Airlines based in Sharjah, left Sharjah with 46 tons of humanitarian cargo for Nyala, Darfur province in Sudan, with a planned en-route stop at Khartoum. When the crew first contacted Khartoum they advised air traffic control that they had fuel problems. The crew were advised to make an emergency landing at Aad Babaker, which is about 15 km west of Khartoum. The aircraft crashed about 15km from Khartoum killing all seven crew. ^{[4] [5]}

On January 24, 2007, Air West Flight 612, a Boeing 737 with 95 passengers and 8 crew on board, was hijacked and diverted to the Chadian capital of N'Djamena. The plane, destined for the town of El Fasher, took off from Khartoum at 8:30 AM. Air traffic control had evidence of only one hijacker aboard the plane. The 24 year old hijacker, Mahamat Abdelatif Mahamat, was armed with a pistol and several knives. He demanded that the airplane be flown to Britain. When he realized that there was not enough fuel to go to Britain he asked to be flow to Bangui or N'Djamena. The aircraft landed safely in N'Djamena and all passengers were released. The hijacker requested guarantees for his safety from the French embassy and requested political asylum in the United Kingdom. The hijacker's demands were not heeded; he was arrested following twenty minutes of negotiations on the ground{http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6293649.stm) http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/Man_arrested_after_hijacking_Sudanese_plane.html?siteSect=143&sid=7461155&cKey=1169642253000.

[edit] Fleet

The Air West fleet consists of the following aircraft (at August 2006) ^[6] :

• 2 Antonov An-12
• 2 Antonov An-24
• 1 Antonov An-26

This company has a fleet of thirteen aircraft. ^[3]

[edit] Blacklist

The entire Air West fleet, with the exception of one aircraft (an Ilyushin Il-76 with the registration mark ST-EWX), is on the List of air carriers banned in the EU (July 2006).

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} Flight International 29 March-4 April 2005
2. ^ Airline Codes (November 2006)
3. ^ ^{a b} Indian Ocean Newsletter 25 June 2005
4. ^ Flight International July 2005
5. ^ Aviation Safety Network retrieved 20 November 2006
6. ^ Flight International, 3-9 October 2006