Kish Airlines (, ''Havāpeymāyi-e Kish'') is an

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

operating from

Kish Island Kish ( ) is a resort island in Bandar Lengeh County, Hormozgan Province, off the southern coast of Iran in the Gulf. The island constitutes the city of Kish, Iran, Kish. Owing to its free trade zone status, the island is marketed as a consumers ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. It operates international, domestic and charter services as a scheduled carrier. Its main bases are Kish International Airport and

Mehrabad International Airport Mehrabad Interglobal Airport is an airport serving Tehran, the capital of Iran. Prior to the construction of the larger Imam Khomeini International Airport in 2007, Mehrabad was Tehran's primary airport for both international and domestic tr ...

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

History

The airline was established on December 16, 1989, and started operations in 1990. It is owned by Kish Free Zone Organisation (79%), Kish Investment and Development (11%) and Kish Development and Servicing (10%). To start its passenger operations, after receiving temporary operations permission, the airline leased two aircraft (three

Tupolev Tu-154 The Tupolev Tu-154 (; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian airlines for several decades, ...

and four McDonnell Douglas MD-82/MD-83) from Bulgaria Airlines on a wet lease. Kish Air received its air operator certificate (AOC) in 1991, thus becoming the first private company to receive its AOC from Civil Aviation of Iran. At this time the company began wet-leasing three

Ms from Russian leasing companies, returning the previously leased Bulgarian aircraft. The company also wet-leased two Yakovlev Yak-42D aircraft from Russia. Towards the end of 1992, the company was at the verge of

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

, and most of the key managers were replaced. In 1999, Kish Air having enough financial strength, decided to replace its wet-leased fleet with dry leased and purchased aircraft, and was able to operate two dry leased and two purchased Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft and hire and train the required aircrew and maintenance personnel. At present Kish Air also operates a fleet of medium-range

MD-80 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast narrow-body aircraft, single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 ...

series aircraft and short-range Fokker 100 on its domestic and international routes.

Destinations

As of September 2023, Kish Air operates services to the following destinations:

Fleet

As of February 2025, Kish Air operates the following aircraft:

Fleet development

In April 2017, it was announced that the airline planned to order six aircraft from ATR, with variant and delivery dates announced if, and when, the deal is signed by the airline. The aircraft were planned to be used to increase the number of flights on domestic flights in Iran.

Former fleet

The airline previously operated the following aircraft (at November 2017): * 2

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

leased from Jordan Aviation * 1 Boeing 737-500 leased from Bukovyna Airlines * 7 Fokker 50

Accidents and incidents

*On 19 September 1995, Kish Air Flight 707 was hijacked by flight attendant Reza Jabbari and landed in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, where the hijacker was arrested. Jabbari requested asylum and declared his intention of converting to Judaism. Sentenced to eight years in prison, he served four years but was granted asylum and remained in Israel. He eventually became an Israeli citizen and converted to Judaism. *On 10 February 2004, Kish Air Flight 7170, operated by a Fokker 50 Mk.050, crashed at

Sharjah International Airport Sharjah International Airport () is an international airport located east-southeast of Sharjah (city), Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. It is spread over an area of . It is the 3rd busiest airport in UAE, the country as well as List of the busie ...

killing 43 people. There were three survivors with serious injuries. The cause was that the propellers were put into reverse pitch while the aircraft was in flight.

References

External links

Kish Air fleet listKish Air photos
{{IATA members, mideast Airlines established in 1989 Airlines of Iran Iranian brands Iranian companies established in 1989