New IL-76 Operator Vise Air Appears to Be Flying for the UAE Government

A previously unknown cargo airline operating the Ilyushin Il-76 has emerged, with evidence suggesting it is conducting flights on behalf of the United Arab Emirates government.

On 19 July, an Il-76 operating as flight VAF2034 flew from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. The aircraft’s registration remains unknown, but it transmitted the Malawi-allocated ICAO hex code 058083. The flight used the airline designator VAF, which is assigned to an operator named Vise Air.

It seems Vise Air is the operator of multiple IL-76 aircraft.

Earlier that day, the same aircraft flew from Asosa to Addis Ababa as flight FSQ5034. The FSQ designator was previously used by Fly Sky Airlines, an Il-76 operator that lost its Air Operator Certificate (AOC). Before losing its certification, Fly Sky Airlines primarily operated cargo flights from the United Arab Emirates to destinations across Africa on behalf of the UAE government.

Asosa is located near the border with South Sudan. The airport was recently expanded with two drone hangars. Large numbers of pickup trucks destined for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been observed in the region. The RSF receives military support from the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This appears to be the first recorded instance of an IL-76 flown for the UAE government landing at Asosa Airport. Previously, similar flights had used Bahir Dar Airport and Harar Meda Air Base as their destinations.

The aircraft landed at Addis Ababa from Benghazi (Libya) as flight FSQ4937.

The aircraft departed Addis Ababa at 14:22 UTC on 19 July after arriving from Asosa. It had departed Asosa at 10:45 UTC.

Earlier that morning, the aircraft had arrived at Asosa at approximately 09:40 UTC as flight FSQ2824 from Addis Ababa. The available flight data suggests that Addis Ababa is likely being used as a technical stop for these operations.

Very little is currently known about Vise Air. The operator appears to be registered in Malawi and uses “AFRICA STAR” as its radio callsign.

This was the first recorded appearance of ICAO hex code 058083 on ADS-B Exchange:
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=058083&lat=8.573&lon=40.140&zoom=4.9&showTrace=2026-07-19&leg=1

The emergence of Vise Air follows the recent appearance of another newly registered Il-76, 7P-HAR, which was registered in Lesotho:
https://feitenradar.nl/2026/06/30/mystery-lesotho-registered-il-76-appears-at-south-african-air-force-base/