ADEN AIRWAYS -ARAB AVIATION IN THE FIFTIES

ADEN AIRWAYS

As World War 2 ended, the imperial powers scrambled to connect their far flung empire . BOAC, KLM and Air France quickly went to develop their imperial routes helped by the development and progress of commercial aviation as a result of WW2, forgotten were the days when the DC3 and other locally slow and with limited range produced aircraft will ply those routes . The DC4, Lockheed constellation and DC6 will give the desired level of comfort, speed and range to make those empire routes a viable commercial enterprise.

Aden under British rule has a strategic position controlling the entry into the Red Sea and being halfway between Europe and India and between Europe,East and South Africa. Recognizing this strategic factor coupled with other important reasons  such the need for a service between the India sub continent and East  and West African where an important colony of Indians were living ,  the fact that the RAF was not willing anymore to provide internal service in the Yemen as well as to counter attack any American influence (in the form of TWA providing technical assistance to the newly formed Ethiopian Airlines), in addition to provide feeding traffic to BOAC

BOAC would register Aden Airways on March 7 1949 providing the airline with the robust and ubiquitous DC3.

YEMEN AIRWAYS VR-AAK - source UK national archive

Aden AW at Mukeiras. CC by Georges Robins through Flickr

The timetable dated February 1951

source www.timetableimages.com/Bjorn Larsson collection

illustrates greatly the operations of the company with fortnightly flight from Damascus to Khartoum (the Levant special with an overnight stop at Wadi Halfa)  connecting with W.A.A.C service to West Africa, Cairo with connections to the Far East, Khartoum and Nairobi to connect with BOAC's springbok services and to India by Air India.
An important feature of this timetable is that each line had a name 

ADEN AIRWAYS NETWORK DESTINATION MAPS FEBRUARY 1951

The Levant and the Sudan special were operated on a forthnight basis

The company will develop slowly as it was constrained by 2 important factors the limited range and capacity of the DC3 which could not compete with Air India's constellation or Ethiopian Airlines Convair 240 . The other factor was the unwillingness of the other BOAC subsidiaries/associate companies to extend a cooperative arm, Gulf aviation would fight hard not to give Aden Airways rights to Bahrain, Cyprus Airways will exercise mounting pressure to have Aden Airways removed from the Damascus-Khartoum as CY regarded it as unfair competition . Cyprus Aw ultimately won . In 1953, Aden Aw acquires 49% of the share capital of Arab Airways a local Jordanian airline company.The first flight will operated by a DC3 TJ-ABN on the sector Amman-Jerusalem-Beirut. More on ARAB AIRWAYS at the following link Jordanian aviation in the 50s.The May 1954 timetable reflects the operations of the company.

ADEN AIRWAYS NETWORK DESTINATION MAP MAY 1954

The Aden-Cairo service was operated By BOAC Argonaut operating on the behalf of Aden Airways on a weekly basis.
At Cairo, Connections with Arab Airways to Amman. Jerusalem, Beirut and Baghdad

ADEN AIRWAYS LOCAL NETWORK MAP MAY 1954

Aden Airways operated internal services to air stripes such as Al Qatn. The  network of the company totalled 12763 km of unduplicated routes

By November 1954 , the Mukalla service was extended to Salalah in Oman .

The Suez crisis of 1956 and the subsequent war will have nefarious consequences on the operations of the company , as the British companies will be banned from Egyptian and Saudi air space resulting in the  loss of its most profitable routes.

The September 21 , 1957 timetable reflects the loss of these routes but also new services to Mombasa, Sharjah , and Bahrain (finally) and a string of new local services.

source www.timetableimages.com/Bjorn Larsson collection

 

ADEN AIRWAYS NETWORK DESTINATION MAP SEPT.1957

ADEN AIRWAYS LOCAL NETWORK MAP SEPT.1957

In the mean the company had engaged in the lucrative qat freight market as well as in oil exploration charters and services (in Oman and British Somaliland)  for which 2 DH Rapides are delivered . Lastly, Pilgrimage and hajj flights  provided the company with a regular stream of income and profit. The company will maintain these routes until the end of the decade  albeit with a small change Beihan and Mahfid being 2 newly added domestic destinations.

An Argonaut ( a Canadian version of the DC4)  will be delivered to Aden Airways on February 18 1960 and give a new impetus to the company.

Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.