Silk Way Airlines
Silk Way Airlines is a cargo airline with its head office and flight operations on the property of Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku, Azerbaijan.[1] The company was founded in 2001 (with the launch of commercial flights on 6 October)[2] and offers freight services linking Europe to Asia, which is why its name is inspired by the Silk Road. Silk Way Airlines is part of the EuroAsian Transport Company and has signed co-operating contracts with Azerbaijan Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo and Cargolux.
Destinations
As of June 2011, Silk Way Airlines offers scheduled flights to the following destinations:[3]
- Afghanistan
- Azerbaijan
- China
- Georgia
- Germany
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Italy
- Luxembourg
- Turkey
- United Arab Emirates
Road freighter service (RFS) is also provided from Baku to additional destinations in Central Asia.
Fleet
As of June 2011, the Silk Way Airlines fleet consists of the following freighter aircraft with an average age of 13.6 years:[2]
Incidents and accidents
- On 7 November 2002 at 11:30 local time, Silk Way Airlines Flight 4132, which was operated using an Antonov An-12 (registered 4K-AZ21) overshot the runway upon landing at N'Djamena International Airport in Chad. The aircraft was destroyed, but the six crew members on board survived.[4]
- On 14 September 2004, a Silk Way Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 (registered 4K-AZ31) that had just departed Baku Airport for a flight to Eindhoven suffered an explosion in its right inner engine, by which the right outer engine was also damaged. The two engines on the left-hand side remained operational, allowing for an emergency landing at Baku.[5]
- On 10 May 2007, Silk Way Airlines Flight 4992 from Reykjavík to Trenton Air Force Base, which was operated on behalf of the Canadian Department of National Defence using an Il-76 (registered 4K-AZ41), struck the airport perimeter fence with its landing gear upon approaching Trenton in low-visibility weather conditions. The pilots executed a go-around and diverted to Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport, where the aircraft landed safely, even though it had suffered substantial damage to its fuselage.[6]
- On 6 July 2011 at 00:10 local time, a Silk Way Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 (registered 4K-AZ55) crashed into a mountain 25 kilometers short of Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, killing all of the crew of nine people on board the cargo flight from Baku, which was operating on behalf of NATO.[7] [8]
References
External links
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Azerbaijan portal |
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Companies portal |
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Aviation portal |