AFRICAN SAFARI AIRWAYS, LTD. P. O. Box 81443, Mombasa, Kenya; Phone 254 (11) 485 522; Fax 254 (11) 485 909; Code QS; Year Founded 1967. Affiliated with African Tourist Development Company and African Safari Lodges, ASI is formed at Nairobi in December 1967. A main office is opened in Basel, Switzerland. Equipped with Bristol Britannia turboprop equipment, the carrier inaugurates its inclusive-tour services with a flight from Zurich to Mombasa.
Additional holiday safari packages are undertaken from Europe to the game parks of East Africa beginning in 1968. In an effort to cash in on freight possibilities, an all-cargo subsidiary, African Cargo Airways, Ltd. , is established in 1973. Passenger charters to East Africa are maintained throughout the 1970s.
In 1978, Managing Director C. Mboijana’s 50-employee carrier obtains its first jetliner, a Douglas DC-8-33, from KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines, N. V.). The all-cargo operation stops in 1981. During the early 1980s, ASI becomes affiliated with the African Safari Club, a travel agency formed in 1982 that markets holiday packages to Africa and the Seychelles. It also enters into an affiliation with Seychelles International Airways, Ltd., which also flies tour group jet charters on behalf of African Safari Club with a DC-8-63.
The company acquires a DC-8-63 on March 24. Little known except by tourists, the nonscheduled operation continues apace throughout the remainder of the decade. When Seychelles International Airways, Ltd. fails in July 1986, ASI purchases one of its DC-8-63.
In 1988-1989, plans are made to replace the Douglas transports early in the 1990s. They are, however, retained.
In 1990, General Manager K. J. Rudin’s company is flying two DC-8-63s between Kenya and Basel, Switzerland.
Air Starline, Ltd. is established at Basel in November as a privately owned subsidiary and Frederick Hofer is named managing director of the new worldwide charter airline. A workforce of 60 is recruited and revenue operations commence with a single Douglas DC-8-63H. The Douglas displays an all-white paint scheme with ASA titles and a tail painted in a zebra pattern. Flights by both companies continue apace in 1991-1992.
World History
