Palestinian Airlines was an

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

headquartered in Gaza, State of Palestinepalairlines.net - Contact us
retrieved 31 December 2020 and based at

El Arish International Airport El Arish International Airport ( ar, مطار العريش الدولي) is an airport near El Arish, Egypt. In 2011 the airport served 5,991 passengers (-45.4% vs. 2010). Operations The airport was the home base of Palestinian Airlines which ...

in Arish,

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. Fully owned by the Palestinian Authority, it commenced operations in 1995 and offered flights in the Middle East. In 2020, the company was put into liquidation after years of limited operations.

History

Palestinian Airlines Boeing 727-230-Adv Hoppe

The airline was established on 1 January 1995 and started operations in June 1997, with series of charter flights carrying pilgrims to Jeddah,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. The flights were operated from Port Said, in northern

. Scheduled services began on 23 July 1997, operating from Arish to

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

and

. Palestinian Airlines acquired a second

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

in addition to an already leased one in May 1998.flightglobal.com - Palestinian expands with Boeing 727-200 acquisition
20 May 1998 Shortly after, it transferred its base to Gaza following the opening of the airport in November 1998 and added a number of new routes in the region.airlinegeeks.com - Palestinian Airlines: The Homeless Flag Carrier
25 May 2018 By mid-2000, the company was operating to seven destinations, stretching from

Larnaca Larnaca ( el, Λάρνακα ; tr, Larnaka) is a city on the south east coast of Cyprus and the capital of the district of the same name. It is the third-largest city in the country, after Nicosia and Limassol, with a metro population of 144 ...

in the west to

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

in the east. The airline was grounded in October 2000 following the start of the

Al-Aqsa Intifada The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. ...

and was forced to move to

in December 2001, after destruction of the runway by the Israelis in a bombing campaign at its previous base

Yasser Arafat International Airport Yasser Arafat International Airport ( ar, مطار ياسر عرفات الدولي ''Maṭār Yāsir 'Arafāt ad-Dawli'') , formerly Gaza International Airport and Dahaniya International Airport, is located in the Gaza Strip, between Rafah and ...

, where it operated limited services. It stopped its operations in 2005 but resumed limited services in May 2012. It had 98 employees as of March 2007. Palestinian Airlines was wholly owned by the Palestinian Authority but not recognized by the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation. It also was a member of the

Arab Air Carriers Organization The Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO; ar, الاتحاد العربي للنقل الجوي, Al-Ittiḥād al-`Arabiyy lil-Naql al-Jawwiyy, lit=Arab Union for Air Transport) is a non-profit organization with 33 constituent airline members f ...

. In summer 2020, a long term

leasing A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

agreement for both the airline's aircraft with

Niger Airlines Niger Airlines is the Nigerien flag carrier headquartered in Niamey and based at Diori Hamani International Airport. History The airline was founded in 2012 and started services in 2014 to replace defunct Air Niger. It commenced services with do ...

ended, worsening its financial situation. As of September 2020, both of the airline's

Fokker 50 The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner, designed as an improved version of the successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of the Fokker 50. Both aircraft were manufactured and supported by Dutch airc ...

were offered for sale. In December 2020, the liquidation of Palestinian Airlines has been announced as the Palestinian Authority didn't see a positive future perspective, marking the end of its operations.ch-aviation.com - Palestinian Airlines goes into liquidation
30 December 2020aerotelegraph.com - "Palestinians lose their national airline"
(German) 31 December 2020 At the time of closure, only eight employees remained.

Destinations

Palestinian Airlines served the following destinations as of May 2013: ;Egypt * Arish –

''Base'' ;Saudi Arabia * Jeddah –

King Abdulaziz International Airport King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) ( ar, مطار الملك عبدالعزيز الدولي) is an international airport serving Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, also known as "Jeddah International Airport"( ar, مطار جدة الدولي). T ...

Fleet

As of September 2020, Palestinian Airlines' fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Former aircraft

The airline previously also operated the following aircraft: *

Boeing 727-100 The Boeing 727 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy Boeing 707, 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter f ...

Boeing 727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpor ...

* Bombardier Dash 8-300airfleets.net - Palestinian Airlines
retrieved 31 December 2020 *

Ilyushin Il-62 The Ilyushin Il-62 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-62; NATO reporting name: Classic) is a Soviet long-range narrow-body jetliner conceived in 1960 by Ilyushin. As successor to the popular turboprop Il-18 and with capacity for almost 200 pa ...

References

External links

Official website on web.archive.org
{{Portalbar, Palestine, Aviation Airlines of the State of Palestine Defunct airlines of Egypt Airlines established in 1995 Airlines disestablished in 2020 1995 establishments in the Palestinian territories