Sudan Airways made its first flight from Kassala in Sudan to the Eritrean capital Asmara. According to the Sudan Tribune, the airline chose the occasion of the 18th anniversary of the independence of Eritrea to launch the first flight.

Sudan Airways was formed in 1947 and began as a subsidiary operation of the Sudan Railways System. In 1954 the airline added its first international flights.

However, the airline had in the recent past some safety issues regarding accidents involving passenger fatalities. On 23 June 2008, the Sudanese CAA announced grounding of Sudan Airways citing the carrier’s failure to take corrective meassures following an audit of the airline.

In 2007 the company carried 500.000 passengers with a seat occupation of 50% and employed 1353 staff. Sudan Airways has a mixed fleet of 12 Aircraft consisting out of 4 Airbus, 1 Russian build Antonov, 2 Boeing and 7 smaller planes for regional operations (ATI).

The Airline has its major hub in Khartoum and is owned to 49% by the AREF Investment Group, 21 % by Faiha Holding Company and 30% by the Sudanese Government.

Last October, the managing director of Sudan Airways Ahmed Omer Abdelrahman announced big expansion planes and a fleet modernisation during the Arab Air Carriers Organisation conference in Tunis. The expansion plan was including the introduction of long-haul flights to China and India by 2010.

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Reuters News Agency: According to Sudanese Officials agricultural investment by Arab countries in Sudan will make up to 50% of total investments by 2010. The Arabian Peninsula with countries such as Qatar, Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia and others consists mainly out of infertile desert land and depends heavily on food imports. In contrast Sudan is a big country with heavy rain fall and a vast agricultural potential, which supplies livestock, wheat, animal feeds and oil seeds to the Gulf region. Agricultural investments from Arab states flowing into Sudan have grown from $700 million in 2007 to $3 billion in 2009, according to Sudanese officials. Read related article posted earlier “Technology Can Be Swapped for Africa’s Food” (capitaleritrea). Africa could see an increase of such investments in the future, which might lead some African governments to shift their priority from feeding their own population to feeding other nations. Read more: Reuters News Agency.