Harka Air Services (sometimes styled Harkair; formerly Harco Air Services) was a Nigerian airline active in the mid-1990s and early 2000s. It operated chiefly as a charter carrier and later flew limited scheduled services within Nigeria. The airlineâÂÂs operations included Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-134 aircraft, one of which was destroyed in a fatal runway overrun at Lagos in 1995.
The company originated as Harco Air Services in 1992 and was renamed Harka Air Services in 1994. Contemporary academic and press accounts describe Harka/Harco among Nigerian charter operators of the 1990s, some of which later pursued scheduled operations.
Sources identify Harka as a licensed charter carrier that also operated domestic passenger services during the 1990s. The airline used Tupolev Tu-134A aircraft; at least one example (RA-65617) was operated on lease from the Russian carrier Komiavia. Public spotter databases list additional Tu-134s associated with Harka in the mid-1990s.
On 24 June 1995, a Harka Air Services Tupolev Tu-134A operating from Kaduna Airport to Murtala Muhammed International Airport (Lagos) overran the runway during a heavy downpour, crashed into a drainage ditch and caught fire. Sixteen of the 80 people on board were killed.
The crash and subsequent events gave rise to litigation, including Harka Air Services (Nig.) Ltd v. Emeka Keazor, Esq. decided by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2011, concerning the airlineâÂÂs contractual obligations to a passenger and entitlement to damages.