Coyne Airways

History

The airline was established and started operations in 1994. It started as a charter broker specialising in the CIS market. In 1997 it pioneered scheduled freighter services to the Caspian starting with Baku but later adding Tbilisi, Yerevan, Aktau, Atyrau and Uralsk. In December 2006, it began serving this region with a B747 400F from Stansted to Cologne to its hub in Tbilisi, where freight is then transferred to smaller aircraft for distribution around the region.

In July 2002, it inaugurated a freighter service between Seoul and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to meet the growing need for oil and gas development on Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East.

In 2004, it set up the first (and only scheduled freighter services according to the Official Airline Guide) into Iraq serving Baghdad and many destinations around the country. In 2006 it set up scheduled services into Afghanistan, serving Kandahar, Kabul and Bagram twice-weekly.

It also serves Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and Sana'a, Yemen. In January 2008, it commenced Boeing 747 operations into Lagos, Nigeria. These were discontinued in April 2008.