| Airline: | Safi Airways |
| Fleet Size: | 34 |
| Destinations: | 18 |
| Iata: | 4Q |
| Icao: | SFW |
| Callsign: | SAFI |
| Parent: | Safi Airways Ltd[1] |
| Founded: | 2006 |
| Ceased: | 2018 |
| Headquarters: | Kabul, Afghanistan |
| Key People: | |
| Bases: | Hamid Karzai International Airport |
| Secondary Hubs: | Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport |
| Frequent Flyer: | Saffron Rewards |
Safi Airways Co. (Pushto; Pashto: صافي هوايي شرکت; Persian: خطوط هوایی صافی)[3] was the first and largest privately owned airline in Afghanistan. The airline had its headquarters in Shahr-e-Naw, Kabul, Afghanistan, and an administrative office in the Dubai Airport Free Zone. The Afghan authorities ordered suspension of its operations in September 2016, after the airline failed to clear outstanding debt and taxes.
Safi Airways has been founded as a subsidiary of the Safi Group and in 2006 by its chairman and CEO, Ghulam Hazrat Safi. On 15 June 2009, Safi Airways commenced operations between the Afghan capital, Kabul, and Frankfurt Airport, Germany. This service was however suspended on 24 November 2010 due to an EU ban barring all Afghan carriers from flying into Europe[4] and did since never resume.
On 5 November 2009, Safi Airways took delivery of a pre-owned Airbus A340-300, which was phased out after suspension of the Frankfurt route due to the EU ban.[5] [6] In 2011, Safi Airways replaced their Boeing 737-300 aircraft with Airbus A32x aircraft. They intended to acquire an Airbus A330 for long haul routes in 2016[7] which however did not take place.
Since February 2012, Safi Airways is the first Afghan airline to operate in compliance with European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) requirements, IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) and ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization).[8]
On 5 September 2016, Afghan authorities forced Safi Airways to suspend all operations over unpaid debt and taxes.[9]
As of September 2018, Safi Airways served the following destinations:[10]
As of October 2016, the Safi Airways fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[11]
| Aircraft | In Fleet | Orders | Passengers | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J | Y | Total | |||||
| Airbus A320-200 | 8 | — | 12 | 132 | 144 | ||
| Boeing 767-200ER | 7 | — | 12 | 196 | 208 | stored | |
| Total | 15 | 0 | |||||
Safi Airways previously operated the following aircraft:
| Aircraft | Introduced | Retired | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A319-100[12] | 2013 | 2017 | |
| Airbus A340-300 | 2009 | 2015 | |
| Boeing 737-300 | 2008 | 2017 | |
| Boeing 737-400 | 2016 | 2018 | |
| Boeing 757-200 | 2012 | 2018 | |
| Airbus A330-200 | 2017 | 2018 | |
| Airbus A340-600 | 2017 | 2018 | |
| Boeing 777-300 | 2017 | 2018 |