Aerocom
{{Short description|Moldovian airline closed in 2004}}
{{Distinguish|Aerocon}}
{{Infobox airline
| airline = Aerocom
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| fleet_size = 5
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| ICAO = MCC[http://www.airlinecodes.co.uk/ Airline codes]
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| founded = 1998
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Aerocom was an airline based in Chişinău, Moldova. It was suspected to be involved in illegal weapons trade, which ultimately led to the airline being shut down in 2004.
History
Aerocom was founded in 1998 and operated chartered passenger and cargo services out of Chişinău International Airport.Flight International 27 March 2007
In 2004 the United Kingdom Department for International Development was criticised for having hired Aerocom to fly humanitarian aid missions to Morocco following the earthquake there, because in a 2003 United Nations report Aerocom was accused of breaking international sanctions by having transporting huge quantities of arms to Liberia in 2002. Subsequently, special permission from the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority was needed to allow Aerocom's Moldova-registered Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft to land in Britain, including an exemption from noise restrictions.[http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1232626,00.html The Observer] 6 June 2004
Also in 2004, the Air Operator's Certificate of Aerocom was revoked, possibly due to connections between the airline and suspected weapons smuggler Viktor Bout. Nevertheless, the airline flew 99 tonnes of small arms out of a United States air base at Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina later that year, before finally being shut down.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/may/12/usa.iraq |title=US in secret gun deal – Small arms shipped from Bosnia to Iraq 'go missing' as Pentagon uses dealers |author=Ian Traynor |place=Zagreb |publisher=The Guardian |date=12 May 2006 }}[https://web.archive.org/web/20071015185113/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HG27Aa01.html Asia Times online] 27 July 2006
Fleet
External links
- [http://www.ruudleeuw.com/vbout22.htm Connected: Aerocom, Jet Line and Air Mero]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060821131113/http://www.douglasfarah.com/archive/2006_05_01_archive.shtml Doug Farah on Aerocom]
References
{{reflist|2}}
{{Airlines of Moldova}}
Category:Defunct airlines of Moldova
Category:Airlines established in 1998