A BRITISH airline has been blocked by the Department for Transport from carrying out a contract to help expand the national airline of Afghanistan.

Astraeus, a Gatwick-based carrier, has been in negotations for several months with Ariana Afghan Airlines. It had secured a deal to support two Boeing 757 aircraft for the fledgling airline.

The aircraft are owned by Boeing Capital, the American aerospace giant’s leasing arm, and will be leased to the Afghan company. Astraeus was to provide flight crew, training, maintenance and other technical support.

But the Department for Transport has refused to sanction the arrangement. Yesterday the DfT refused to comment on its decision, saying it did not comment on applications by individual airlines.

Astraeus said it was told permission had been denied because DfT security officials did not think it was safe for UK-registered aircraft to fly in Afghanistan. Executives said that they were mystified by the decision.

“It is a ridiculous situation,” said Jonathan Hinkles, Astraeus’s commercial director. “We have carried out our own safety assessments, and identified areas that need to be worked on with Ariana. For the DfT to say that UK aircraft cannot fly there, even when those aircraft are not even flying back to the UK, seems a bit strange.”

The two Boeing 757s that were to have gone to Afghanistan have been refurbished in Britain, and have been sitting on the ground for three months waiting for the green light from the DfT.

Ariana already has a similar technical-support deal in place with a French airline, Eagle Aviation. Industry sources said the Astraeus contract may now be offered to a US company, with Omni Air International, a charter airline based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tipped to get the job.

Hinkles said Astraeus would have initially provided flight crew for the two aircraft, but that the contract aimed to have local staff trained by the UK company eventually take their place. The main maintenance base for the aircraft would have been in Dubai, not Afghanistan, he said.

Ariana has been flying scheduled services since 1955, and from 1957 was developed under a joint venture with the famous American airline, Pan Am.

Under the Taliban regime, the fleet shrank back to eight aircraft, six of which were destroyed on the ground during the American-led overthrow of the Taliban after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Ariana has since gradually rebuilt its network, and currently flies from Kabul to several international destinations including Frankfurt, Moscow and Istanbul.

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