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ZAS Airline of Egypt

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ZAS Airline of Egypt
ZAS McDonnell Douglas MD-87
IATA ICAO Call sign
ZA ZAS ZAS AIRLINES
Founded1981
Commenced operationsNovember 23, 1982
Ceased operationsApril 1995
Operating bases
Fleet size25 (during operations)
HeadquartersCairo, Egypt
Key peopleSherif Zarkani, Emir Zarkani

ZAS Airline of Egypt (IATA: ZAICAO: ZAScall sign: ZAS airlines) was an airline from Egypt that operated between 1982 and 1995.

Company history

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ZAS Airline of Egypt was founded by two brothers, Sherif and Emir Zarkani, as a freight airline. Operations began on November 23, 1982 with a flight from Cairo to Amsterdam to London. Their first flight was to Amsterdam, as both brothers lived in Holland for a portion of their childhood. In 1987, ZAS was granted a license to carry passenger charter operations. Flights to Jeddah for the Hajj began that year. Then, flights to Western Europe began.

ZAS operated a variety of aircraft, from old Boeing 707s to modern MD-87s and Airbus A300s. The Gulf War of 1990-91 brought a downturn in the Egyptian tourist business and ZAS was heavily affected. Sometime in the 1990s the government wanted to nationalize the airline but Sherif and Emir refused to, so the government greatly increased their taxes and occasionally cut the water and electricity supply to their homes. After increasing difficulties, all operations ceased in April 1995. [1]

Fleet details

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References

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  1. ^ Airlines Remembered by BI Hengi, Publisher Midland Publishing
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