The Orient Steam Navigation Company and Adelaide Steamship Company jointly form Adelaide on November 29, 1935 to fly the mail to various points outside the South Australian capital.
Employing a Shorts Scion, twice-weekly service is started from Adelaide to Mount Gambier and Melbourne; on November 30, a Monospar ST.25, christened Boyana, begins twice-weekly flights from Adelaide to Port Lincoln. The Boyana undertakes a twice-weekly frequency from Adelaide to Broken Hill on November 19. By year’s end the fleet comprises 2 Shorts Scions, the Boyana, and 2 de Havilland DH 89 Dragon Rapides, the Monana and Moongana.
Flights from Adelaide to Kangaroo Island begin on February 17, 1936. On July 1, the carrier is one of four merged to form ANA (Australian National Airlines [Pty.], Ltd.). It is allowed, however, to retain its previous identity for a brief amalgamation period. Simultaneously, the carrier takes over the services and assets of West Australian Airways (Pty.), Ltd. The Adelaide-Broken Hill route started in 1935 is extended to Melbourne on August 3 and the carrier is officially and finally merged into ANA on November 2.
ADEN AIRWAYS, LTD.: Aden/South Yemen (1949-1968). To assume responsibility for the local Red Sea areas previously served from Cairo, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) forms this wholly owned subsidiary on March 7, 1949, capitalizing it at ?225,000. With British-registered Douglas DC-3s acquired from the parent, Aden inaugurates service on October 1 to Mukalla, Addis Ababa, and Nairobi.
In January 1950, Aden is allocated its own registration prefix and the carrier receives six DC-3s; on February 1, these are employed to start routes to Asmara, Khartoum, Hargeisa, Mogadishu, Djibouti, Riyan, Mukeiras, Port Sudan, and Cairo. On March 3, a group of U. S. tourists is stranded at Luxor during a company dispute with Egypt.
Aden-Bahrain flights begin on April 25, 1951 and weekly Aden-Qatn/ Churcf service is started during the summer. In late August, the Bahrain route is cancelled so as to avoid duplication with Cyprus Airways, Ltd. Two Avro Ansons are added to the fleet in 1952 and, when British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) begins London-Aden Hermes IV services on February 4, 1953, Aden Airways is contracted to fly the Cairo-Aden sector with its DC-3s.
Aden-Ataq DC-3 flights are launched during the summer of 1955. In 1956, several additional routes are opened from Aden to Nisab (February 19), Randha and Riyan (February 20), Beihan (February 21), and Diredawa (April 30). The Cairo service is suspended on November 1 due to the crisis in the Suez.
Weekly DC-3 operations begin in 1957 to Lodar and Mukefras (June 6), Hargeisa, Mogadishu, and Mombasa (September 22), and Salalah, Sharjah and Bahrain (September 27). The Addis Ababa route is closed on June 7 and the Nairobi service is suspended on September 22. Aden-Mahfid weekly DC-3 flights commence on April 15, 1959.
The first of 3 ex-British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Canadair C-4 Argonauts delivered on the year arrives in Aden on February 18, 1960 and is placed on the weekly Bahrain service on February 28. Orders are placed for 3 Hawker Siddeley HS 748s on April 26. The second C-4 Argonaut is delivered on April 30 (the same day DC-3 service is suspended to Nairobi) and is placed on the Cairo route on May 2. Argonaut service to Nairobi begins on May 4 and the third C-4 Argonaut is received on July 15.
The previously flown routes are maintained and frequencies now expanded as the 3 HS 748s enter service. An agreement for pooled services with East African Airways Corporation (EAAC) is signed during the fourth quarter of 1961.
Having purchased a set number of seats and cargo space, EAAC Comets begin stopping at Aden in early January 1962. The route between Nairobi and Aden is offered four times a week: once each by EAAC Comet and Canadair and twice by Aden’s own C-4 Argonauts.
During April 1963, planning starts for a pooled service, with East African Airways Corporation (EAAC) and Air India, Ltd., from East Africa to India. Details are worked out and an agreement between the three companies is signed on August 14, taking effect on September 1.
Three Vickers Viscount 760s, previously leased to Malayan Airways, Ltd., are transferred to AA in September. Argonaut flights begin to Cairo and Mombasa during 1964-1965.
On November 22, 1966, a DC-3, with 3 crew and 27 passengers, en route from Meifah to Aden, suddenly disintegrates at 6,000 feet and crashes 130 miles east of Aden; there are no survivors. Investigators will later determine that the disaster has been caused by an explosive charge smuggled onto the plane in hand luggage.
An Argonaut is blown up at Aden, presumably by Arab terrorists, later the same day. After 18 years of operation, the carrier, now involved in internal strife and with increasing labor costs, suspends operations on June 30, 1967. In 1968, Aden becomes the People’s Republic of Yemen and the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) connection is terminated.
ADES (AEROLINEAS DEL ESTE, S. A.): Colombia (19901995). With a base at Aeropuerto Vanguardia, Villavicencio, ADES is formed in 1990 to provide scheduled passenger and cargo services to small towns nearby. Charter and contract service flights are also undertaken by President Hugo Rodriguez Munoz’s company with a fleet that grows to comprise 5 Cessna 208 Caravan Is, 1 Douglas C-47B (military DC-3), and 1 Curtiss C-46F Commando.
En route on a nonscheduled service from Villavicencio on May 15, 1991, the C-47B, with 3 crew and 11 passengers, crashes at La Poyatta; there is one survivor.
Flights continue apace in 1992-1994; however, by 1994, the Caravans have been replaced by 5 Cessna 206s.
While on initial approach to Cerro San Jeronimo on an all-cargo service from Mitu on May 9, 1995, the C-46F, with 4 crew and 5 passengers, crashes into a hill in bad weather; there are no survivors.
Without heavy equipment and facing crash-related lawsuits, the company ceases operations shortly thereafter.
ADIRONDACK AIRLINES: United States (1991). This small regional is established at Glens Falls, New York, in late spring 1991. After a Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain is obtained, the company begins flying a route in June linking its base with Newark to the south and Rutland, Vermont, to the north. It has not, however, bothered to seek the appropriate government or airport certifications and is soon in deep trouble. Operations cease in December.
ADLAIR AVIATION, LTD.: Box 2046; Yellowknife, Northwest Territories X1A 2R3, Canada; Phone (403) 873-5161; Fax (403) 8738475. Adlair is set up at Yellowknife in 1983 to offer charter flights throughout the central Arctic area of the nation, originally from a base at Cambridge. Revenue services commence with 1 each Beech King Air 100 and de Havilland DHC-3 Otter.
Nonscheduled operations continue apace for the next thirteen years. In late 1996, Adlair, under the direction of President/General Manager Paul Lasench, begins to offer scheduled commuter frequencies with a DHC-6-200.
It is understood that flight continue without change during the remainder of the decade; exact information is, however, unavailable.
ADMAS AIR SERVICE, S. C.: Ethiopia (1975-1995). When the government of Ethiopia nationalizes the country’s lightplane operations in May 1975, Admas emerges as the single entity for light charters (executive and tourist), survey and agricultural work, and government and contract services. The fleet comes to comprise some 20 aircraft of mixed types, including Cessna, Pipers, and Aero Commanders.
Airline employment during the 1980s hovers around 90. Operations are severely interrupted by the civil war at decade’s end. Once the fighting ends, services resume and, in 1993, Operations Manager Armide Merid oversees the work of 1 Aero Commander 600, 1 Pilatus Porter, and 2 Piper PA-23 Aztecs.
Flights are terminated at the end of 1994 and the company is turned over to Ethiopian Airlines, S. C. in early 1995.
World History
