Mid Airlines was founded in 2002 by Sudanese and foreign private investors. Reportedly it was associated with the Spirit of Africa Airlines group. Mid Airlines started charter operations from their headquarters at Khartoum international airport in 2003. Initially only domestic destinations were served, including Port Sudan, El Obeid, Kassala and Nyala. Later also international flights were performed to Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Entebbe, Dar Es Salaam, Juba and Dubai.

The core of the fleet was formed by Fokker 50 aircraft. These were used for passenger transport as well as for cargo flights. In addition, the airline operated one cargo Antonov An-26. According to their website Mid Airlines had also access to Beech 1900C, Let-410 and Boeing-737 aircraft for passenger transport and to Antonov An-12 and An-32 cargo aircraft. We have been unable to trace details on these aircraft.

The first F50 for Mid Airlines, ST-ARA (20154), was prepared by Fokker Services at Woensdrecht and departed to Sudan in December 2002. We have no information as to its livery, other than that it was all white shortly before delivery. Some six months later it experienced an accident and was written off. Within weeks Mid Airlines leased another F50 as a replacement for one year; this aircraft was immediately available from storage at Woensdrecht and departed to Sudan in the last week of August 2003 in full livery. The following year Mid Airlines acquired three additional F50s that were leased from K-Air, a Dutch company that had purchased them from Norwegian Air Shuttle. As far as we know these remained in service for six to nine years.

Initially the company logo was orange-yellow with dark blue and later changed to red with dark blue; the date of this transition is not known. In 2014 ST-ARG was seen in a new livery with purple tail and small titles next to the passengers door; this was the only Mid Airlines F50 in this livery.

Mid Airlines was contracted by UNMIS, the UN Mission in Sudan, for humanitarian flights in January 2008. One F50 operated for this assignment, but information is lacking as to whether it was carrying a dedicated UN livery.

Most sources indicate that Mid Airlines ceased operations in 2015, or at the very least operated its final Fokker flight that year.

Mid Airlines Fokker fleet

Mid Airlines Fokker incidents and accidents

• Fokker 50 ST-ARA (20154) experienced an accident on 16 June 2003 at 06:30 local time. Coming from Khartoum the F50 hit a flock of birds while landing at the gravel airstrip of the Adar Yale oil field in South Sudan. The aircraft went out of control, veered off the runway, one propellor struck the runway and the propellor blades separated. Debris punctured the fuselage and injured three passengers; the other 42 people on board had no injuries. The F50 was damaged beyond repair.
• On 28 October 2009 ST-ARG (20130) performed a flight from Nyala to Khartoum and was directed into a holding pattern before landing. Then the left-hand engine failed and during the single-engine landing a tire blew, but the pilots managed taxying to the platform without difficulties. None of the occupants, 5 crew and 55 passengers, was injured. The damage was repaired.
• Another incident involving ST-ARG (20130) was on 6 August 2013: the F50 substantially damaged at Khartoum airport during start-up for flight 7Y450 to El Obeid. With engines running the right-hand propeller hit the connected ground power unit, causing separation of the propeller tips. Debris penetrated the fuselage and a passenger window, but there were no injuries among the 5 crew and 50 passengers. The aircraft was repaired and returned into service in 2014.

Mid Airlines pictures

The oldest picture of a Mid Airlines F50 available to us is that of PH-PRI (20201), shortly before delivery to Sudan (unknown photographer; Woensdrecht, 31 July 2003. The photo is enhanced using AI)

The same aircraft, now with its Sudanese registration. (Joeri Sarens; Antwerp, 23 August 2004)

LN-BBA (20130) just before delivery (Mark Remmel; Maastricht, 23 April 2004)

This aircraft became ST-ARG (20130) and was painted later into a new livery with purple tail colors and small titles (Eduard Onyshchenko; Khartoum, 4 November 2014)

Mid Airlines F50 ST-ARH (20131) in full colors (mailtrain2000; Addis Ababa, 28 September 2012)

A rare picture of ST-ARZ (20134), without titles at the end of its career (Clive Hindmarch; Khartoum, 31 March 2009)

Credits

• Airline website: https://midairlines.com/ accessed 15-10-2026
• ATDB database https://aerotransport.org
• Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_Airlines, accessed 14-10-2026.
• Aviation Safety Network https://aviation-safety.net/asndb/type/F50, accessed 01-04-2026