Israir
Encyclopedia
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 Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. It operates domestic scheduled and air taxi flights from Sde Dov Airport
Sde Dov Airport
Sde Dov Airport , also known as Dov Hoz Airport is an airport located in Tel Aviv, Israel which mainly handles scheduled domestic flights to Eilat and , northern Israel , and the Israeli Golan Heights. It is Tel Aviv's largest airport and the second largest in the area, after Ben Gurion...
, Haifa Airport
Haifa Airport
Haifa International Airport is an Israeli airport located in Haifa. It is located to the east of the city, close to Kishon Port and Israel Shipyards and mainly serves civilian flights, with some military usage. Most passenger flights passing through the airport are domestic operations to Eilat...
, Ben Gurion Airport and Eilat Airport
Eilat Airport
Eilat Airport , also known as J. Hozman Airport , is an Israeli airport located in the city of Eilat. It mostly handles domestic flights to Tel Aviv and Haifa with international flights operating instead to Ovda International Airport, but a few international flights on aircraft that can handle the...
, as well as international charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
services from Ben Gurion International Airport
Ben Gurion International Airport
Ben Gurion International Airport , also referred to by its Hebrew acronym Natbag , is the largest and busiest international airport in Israel, handling 12,160,339 passengers in 2010...
, to Europe and Asia. It also operates VIP flights and is Israel's third largest airline after El Al Israel Airlines and Arkia Israel Airlines
Arkia Israel Airlines
Arkia Israel Airlines , usually referred to as Arkia is an airline with its head office on the grounds of Sde Dov Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. It is Israel's second largest airline operating scheduled domestic and international services as well as charter flights to destinations in Western Europe...
employing some 350 staff. The airline is said to have modeled itself on US low cost carrier, JetBlue.
History
Israir Airlines was established in 1989 as Knafei HaEmek (Valley Wings), before changing its name to Israir Airlines in 1996. It is now wholly owned by the Ganden Group. The airline began with domestic services from Eilat Airport, Ben Gurion International Airport, Sde Dov Airport, and Haifa Airport in the North of the country. It expanded its operations to begin international charter flights in 1999 building up a route network which now covers much of Europe, as well as regularly flying to other destinations in Asia, Africa, and North America.The airline expanded operations across the Atlantic when they started regular charter service to New York City's Kennedy International Airport in June 2004. Service to JFK in New York City ended on September 13, 2008. Permission was granted to the airline to convert this to regular scheduled service by the Israeli government and the FAA as of May 1, 2006. This service was discontinued in September 2008, due to escalating fuel prices and the expectation of a drop in the number of passengers due to the weakness of the dollar at the time.
In early 2007, the airline announced plans to introduce Sky-Torah scrolls on each of its aircraft. These were effectively Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
scrolls which would be carried on board its flight for Jewish passengers to use for prayer. This is a first for any Israeli airline and was seen by many as a means to attract many Haredi passengers to the airline at a time when they were showing great dissatisfaction with arch-rival, El Al
El Al
El Al Israel Airlines Ltd , trading as El Al , is the flag carrier of Israel. It operates scheduled domestic and international services and cargo flights to Europe, North America, Africa and the Far East from its main base in Ben Gurion International Airport...
, following their flying of aircraft on the Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
. Later on in 2007, Israir sparked controversy once again when a passenger announced he was filing a lawsuit against the airline for misadvertising the legroom they offered on their aircraft.
In early 2008, when restrictions were lifted on Israeli airlines destinations, Israir applied for designated carrier status on routes from Israel to London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Rome, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Las Vegas
McCarran International Airport
McCarran International Airport is the principal commercial airport serving Las Vegas and Clark County, Nevada, United States. The airport is located five miles south of the central business district of Las Vegas, in the unincorporated area of Paradise in Clark County. It covers an area of and...
, and Miami - some of which are destinations which are currently served by the airline as charter routes.
Codeshare agreements
Israir has codeshare agreements with:
|
Fleet
As of August 2011, the Israir Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 14.7 years:| Aircraft | In Service | Passengers |
|---|---|---|
| Airbus A320-232 | 2 | 174 |
| ATR 42-320 | 3 | 50 |
| ATR 72-500 | 2 | 68 |
| Total | 7 |
After Israir was granted permission to operate scheduled service on the lucrative New York-Tel Aviv route, in spring 2006 it entered talks with both Boeing and Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
regarding the acquisition of new aircraft to its fleet and replacement of its existing jets. The company was said to be in talks with Boeing over the 787 model. It also signed a deal to acquire Airbus A320
Airbus A320 family
The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...
aircraft. This is a significant milestone in Israeli aviation as no airline has ever before purchased Airbus aircraft. In April 2008, the airline received an Airbus A330
Airbus A330
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body twin-engine jet airliner made by Airbus, a division of EADS. Versions of the A330 have a range of and can accommodate up to 335 passengers in a two-class layout or carry of cargo....
for its New York flights to replace the Boeing 767
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
aircraft it had previously been wet-leasing.
Israir received the first of the two ATR 72 aircraft it had on order in early July 2011, with the second one expected to follow late in the month.
Incidents and accidents
In June 2001, one of Israir's ATR 42-320ATR 42
-Civil operators:The largest operators of the ATR-42 are FedEx Express, Airlinair, TRIP Linhas Aéreas,and Mexico City-based Aeromar respectively. Number of aircraft as of 2010:Some 70 other airlines operate smaller numbers of the type....
aircraft was damaged beyond repair following a heavy landing at Ben Gurion Airport. Despite the aircraft being written off, no passengers were injured in this incident.
On July 6, 2005 a fully loaded Israir 767 accidentally taxied onto an active runway at JFK
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
and a Douglas DC-8
Douglas DC-8
The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company...
cargo aircraft
Cargo aircraft
A cargo aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft designed or converted for the carriage of goods, rather than passengers. They are usually devoid of passenger amenities, and generally feature one or more large doors for the loading and unloading of cargo...
narrowly avoided collision by taking off at full throttle above them, with only 45 feet of clearance over the 767. Israir pilots actually modified their incident reports to claim that the cargo plane had taken off beside the plane, rather than directly above. The pilots and several high ranking Israir officials were dismissed in the scandal.
In May 2007, an Israir Airlines aircraft on a test flight was almost shot down by Israeli
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
F-16 jets after it entered a demarcation zone where airlines are expected to identify themselves. Later that month, on May 23, an Israir flight had to make an emergency landing following smoke build up in the cabin on approach at Berlin-Schönefeld International Airport
Berlin-Schönefeld International Airport
Berlin-Schönefeld Airport is an international airport located near the town of Schönefeld in Brandenburg, directly at the southern border of Berlin and southeast of the city centre. Schönefeld was the major civil airport of East Germany , and the only airport serving East Berlin...
. No one was injured in the incident.
In July 2008, an Israir Airlines aircraft flew from Eilat Airport
Eilat Airport
Eilat Airport , also known as J. Hozman Airport , is an Israeli airport located in the city of Eilat. It mostly handles domestic flights to Tel Aviv and Haifa with international flights operating instead to Ovda International Airport, but a few international flights on aircraft that can handle the...
to Ben Gurion International Airport
Ben Gurion International Airport
Ben Gurion International Airport , also referred to by its Hebrew acronym Natbag , is the largest and busiest international airport in Israel, handling 12,160,339 passengers in 2010...
with a small hole in its frame. The hole was discovered by mechanics at Ben Gurion and there is an ongoing probe as to whether or not Israir knew of the hole which was done by Israir workers in Eilat when they crashed a mobile staircase into the aircraft's body. The plane was next scheduled to fly to Italy and at an altitude of over 10,000 feet, the plane would most likely have experienced a decompression, possibly explosive, and could have resulted in injuries or fatalities.