History
The airline was established in 1991, but in name only, serving as the ground handling agent at Asmara International Airport and at Assab and Massawa and sales agent for other major airlines flying to Eritrea. In May 2002, it was decided to expand into airline services. So, in April 2003 (2003-04) a Boeing 767-300ER leased from Boeing was the first aircraft the airline took possession of; it was named Queen Bee. A second Boeing 767, a –200ER series, was bought in mid-2004 for US$5.8 million.
The lease of the first Boeing 767 seems to have been replaced by an Airbus A320 in 2006 and then replaced again with a Boeing 757 in early 2007 and yet again replaced with a DC-9 in late 2007, ending up with an MD-83. The total fleet of the airline consists nonetheless of the one initially leased Boeing 767.
In April 2003, Eritrean Airlines started regular services between Asmara and Frankfurt, Milan, Nairobi and Rome. In 2004, the airline added Amsterdam as another destination and in 2005, services began to Djibouti and Dubai. Meanwhile, the Nairobi route was dropped. By 2006, the flights to Amsterdam had been dropped while flights to Milan remained seasonal. On September 21, 2006, Eritrean Airlines entered an accord with the Government of Pakistan to start direct flights between Eritrea and Pakistan. Eritrean Airlines received permission from the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan to start two flights a week each for Karachi and Lahore. The deal has duly materialised since then, with the commencement of online Eritrean services to Lahore and Karachi via Dubai four times per week on each route, with full fifth freedom passenger and cargo traffic rights on Pakistan - Dubai sector.
The airline announced in 2008 that it was commencing seasonal services to Bamako, for Haj travellers. Flights to Djibouti have been suspended since the end of 2008 due to renewed tensions along the two countries' border and flights to Frankfurt had been temporarily cancelled as of summer of 2009. Eritrean Airlines has nonetheless announced that scheduled flights to Frankfurt will resume starting April 19, 2012.
In June 2011, a senior Eritrean Foreign Ministry official said that the United States government has applied pressure prohibiting companies from leasing aircraft to Eritrea. He stated that Washington is resorting to such illegal acts as part of its hostile attempts of stiffening anti-Eritrea sanctions, at a time when the Eritrean government is engaged in programs of buying and leasing of passenger planes under a new Pakistani management.
Eritrean resumed operations on 16 July; they also introduced a new livery on the first A320 received which was used for the inaugural service to Dubai and Lahore. A second A320 was added in October and flights to Karachi were launched, they also plan to restore domestic services once the currently stored Dornier fleet is made airworthy. Long-term fleet plans may include introduction of wide body aircraft like the Airbus A330, and new Boeing 737s to replace the A320.
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