Aerolift

Aerolift

IATA ICAO Callsign - - -
Founded	2002
Ceased operations	2009
Headquarters	Johannesburg, South Africa
Website	http://www.aerolift.org/ (defunct)

Aerolift Antonov An-12

Aerolift was a South African airline based in Bryanston, Gauteng, Johannesburg, operating chartered passenger and cargo flights within Africa using Soviet-built aircraft. Aerolift also offered aircraft lease services. The airline was launched in 2002 and shut down in 2009 following two fatal accidents that had occurred in the same year (see below).^[1][2]

Fleet

Upon closure, the Aerolift fleet included the following aircraft:^[2]

• 1 Antonov An-12
• 1 Antonov An-26
• 1 Antonov An-32
• 1 Antonov An-72
• 1 Antonov An-124
• 1 Ilyushin Il-76
• 1 Lockheed Tristar

Accidents and incidents

• On 20 February 2009, an Aerolift Antonov An-12 crashed upon take-off at Luxor International Airport, Egypt due to an engine fire, killing all five crew members on board.^[3]
• On March 9, 2009 Aerolift Ilyushin Il-76 S9-SAB crashed into Lake Victoria just after takeoff from Entebbe Airport, Uganda, killing all 11 people on board. Two of the engines had caught fire on take-off. The aircraft had been chartered by Dynacorp on behalf of AMISOM. The accident was investigated by Uganda's Ministry of Transport, which concluded that all four engines were time-expired and that Aerolift's claim that maintenance had been performed which extended their service live and that the work had been certified could not be substantiated.^[4]

References

1. Aerolift at airlineupdate.com
2. "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-03-27. p. 48.
3. "Five dead in Ukrainian plane fire at Luxor airport - Summary". The Earth Times. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
4. Hradecky, Simon. "Crash: Aerolift IL76 at Entebbe on Mar 9th 2009, impacted Lake Victoria after takeoff". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 27 December 2010.