Bakhtar Afghan Airlines is an airline from Afghanistan, which offers domestic flights. The company was founded in 1967 as Bakhtar Airlines, a name it kept until 1985, when it was renamed Bakhtar Afghan Airlines by Pashtun governments. ^{[citation needed]} In 1985 the company absorbed Ariana Afghan Airlines and became Afghanistan's sole airline company.^[2] In 1988 the Ariana and Bakhtar brands merged. However, the airline relaunched in 2020.^{[citation needed]}

Destinations

Bakhtar Afghan Airlines offer scheduled flights to the following destinations:^[3]

• Bamyan – Bamyan Airport
• Chaghcharan – Chaghcharan Airport
• Darwaz – Darwaz Airport
• Fayzabad – Fayzabad Airport
• Herat – Herat Airfield
• Jeddah - King Abdulaziz International Airport
• Kabul – Kabul International Airport (base)
• Kunduz – Kunduz Airport
• Khwahan – Khwahan Airport
• Maymana – Maymana Airport
• Mazar-i-Sharif – Mazar-i-Sharif Airport
• Shegnan – Sheghnan Airport

Flights were operated using Yakovlev Yak-40 or de Havilland Twin Otter aircraft.

Accidents and incidents

• On 25 January 1972, a Bakhtar Yakovlev Yak-40 (registered YA-KAD) was damaged beyond repair when its hit trees during approach of Khost Airfield near the Afghan town of Khost.^[4]
• On 18 April 1973, a Bakhtar Twin Otter (registered YA-GAT) carrying 16 passengers (most of whom were American or Canadian citizens) crashed upon take-off at Bamyan Airport, killing two passengers and two of the three crew members on board.^[5]
• On 10 March 1983, a Bakhtar Twin Otter (registered YA-GAZ) operating a domestic flight from Kabul to Uruzgan crashed during a thunderstorm near the town of Ghazni, killing all 17 passengers and 2 crew members on board.^[6]
• On 8 January 1985, another Bakhtar Twin Otter (registered YA-GAY) was damaged beyond repair in a landing incident at Bamyan Airport. There were no fatalities among the 17 passengers and 3 crew members.^[7]
• On 4 September 1985 (during the Soviet–Afghan War), a Bakhtar Antonov An-26 (registered YA-BAM) was shot down by a ground-air missile near Kandahar. The aircraft was carrying 47 passengers and 5 crew members and had been on a scheduled flight from Kandahar to Farah. There were no survivors.^[8]
• On 11 June 1987, another Bakhtar An-26 (registered YA-BAL) was shot down by a missile near Khost, killing 53 out of the 55 people on board. The aircraft had been on a flight from Kandahar to Kabul. Rebels thought the aircraft was a military Ilyushin Il-14.^[9]

2020-2021 relaunch

Bakhtar Airlines was relaunched in 2020 for domestic flights. The new company operates a single Boeing 737-500 leased from Ariana Afghan Airlines.