Aerolift was a South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

 based in Bryanston, Gauteng

Bryanston, Gauteng

Bryanston is an upper class, wealthy residential suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. First named as an area in 1949, it was established in 1969 as a suburb of Sandton and provided with tarred roads and municipal services, but after municipal boundaries were revised following the end of Apartheid,...

, Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

, operating chartered passenger and cargo flights within Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 using Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

-built aircraft. Aerolift also offered aircraft lease services. The airline was launched in 2002, and was shut down in 2009 following two deathly accidents that had occurred in the same year (see below)..

Fleet

Upon closure, the Aerolift fleet included the following aircraft :

• 1 Antonov An-12
  Antonov An-12
  The Antonov An-12 is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10.-Design and development:...
  
  
• 1 Antonov An-26
  Antonov An-26
  The Antonov An-26 is a twin-engined turboprop military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the USSR from 12 March 1968.-Development:...
  
  
• 1 Antonov An-32
  Antonov An-32
  The Antonov An-32 is a twin-engined turboprop military transport aircraft.-Design and development:The An-32 is basically a re-engined An-26. The launch customer was the Indian Air Force, which ordered this aircraft partly due to good relations between then USSR leader Leonid Brezhnev and then...
  
  
• 1 Antonov An-72
  Antonov An-72
  The Antonov An-72 is a transport aircraft developed by Antonov in the former Soviet Union. It was designed as a STOL transport and intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-26, but variants have found success as commercial freighters.The An-72 gets its nickname, Cheburashka, from the large...
  
  
• 1 Antonov An-124
  Antonov An-124
  The Antonov An-124 Ruslan is a strategic airlift jet aircraft. It was designed by the Ukrainian SSR's Antonov design bureau, then part of the Soviet Union. It is the world's largest ever serially-manufactured cargo airplane and world's second largest operating cargo aircraft...
  
  
• 1 Ilyushin Il-76
  Ilyushin Il-76
  The Ilyushin Il-76 is a multi-purpose four-engined strategic airlifter designed by Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a commercial freighter in 1967. Intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-12, the Il-76 was designed for delivering heavy machinery to remote, poorly-serviced areas...
  
  
• 1 Lockheed Tristar

Accidents and incidents

• On 20 February 2009, an Aerolift Antonov An-12
  Antonov An-12
  The Antonov An-12 is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10.-Design and development:...
  
   crashed upon take-off at Luxor International Airport
  Luxor International Airport
  Luxor International Airport is the main airport serving the city of Luxor, Egypt. It is located four miles east of the city.Many charter airlines use the airport, as it is a popular tourist destination for those visiting the River Nile and the Valley of the Kings.In 2009, the airport served...
  
  , Egypt
  Egypt
  Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
  
   due to an engine fire, killing all five crew members on board.
• On March 9, 2009 Aerolift Ilyushin Il-76
  Ilyushin Il-76
  The Ilyushin Il-76 is a multi-purpose four-engined strategic airlifter designed by Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a commercial freighter in 1967. Intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-12, the Il-76 was designed for delivering heavy machinery to remote, poorly-serviced areas...
  
   S9-SAB crashed into Lake Victoria
  Lake Victoria
  Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. The lake was named for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, by John Hanning Speke, the first European to discover this lake....
  
   just after takeoff from Entebbe Airport, Uganda
  Uganda
  Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
  
  , killing all 11 people on board. Two of the engines had caught fire on take-off. The aircraft had been chartered by Dynacorp on behalf of AMISOM. The accident was investigated by Uganda's Ministry of Transport, which concluded that all four engines were time-expired and that Aerolift's claim that maintenance had been performed which extended their service live and that the work had been certified could not be substantiated.