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Wikipedia / Israir

Israir Airlines Ltd., more commonly referred to as Israir, is an Israeli low-cost airline headquartered in Tel Aviv. It operates domestic scheduled and air taxi flights from Ben Gurion International Airport, and Ramon Airport as well as scheduled and charter international services from Ben Gurion International Airport to Europe and Asia. It also operates VIP flights, and is Israel's second largest airline after El Al, surpassing Arkia Israel Airlines during the coronavirus pandemic, employing some 350 staff.

History

Foundation and early years

Israir Airlines was established in 1989 as Kanfei HaEmek (Valley Wings) before changing its name to Israir Airlines in 1996. It is now wholly owned by the Rami Levi 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 that now covers much of Europe, as well as regularly flying to other destinations in Asia, Africa, and North America. The airline is said to have modeled itself on US low-cost carrier JetBlue.

The airline expanded operations across the Atlantic Ocean when regular charter service to New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport was started in June 2004. Permission was granted to the airline to convert this to regular scheduled service by the Israeli government and the FAA on May 1, 2006. In April 2008, the airline received an Airbus A330 for its New York flights to replace the Boeing 767 aircraft it had previously been wet-leasing. However, it instead cancelled the flights in 2008 for cost reasons and phased out widebody aircraft.

In 2006, Israir signed a deal to acquire Airbus A320 narrow-body aircraft. This made it the first Israeli airline to purchase Airbus aircraft.

In early 2007, the airline announced plans to introduce Sky-Torah scrolls on each of its aircraft. These were effectively Torah 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, following their flying of aircraft on the Shabbat.

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, Rome, Budapest, Las Vegas, and Miami – some of which had previously been served by the airline as charter destinations.

Developments since 2010

Israir received the first of the two ATR 72 aircraft it had on order in early July 2011 to replace the ATR 42, with the second one expected to follow later that month. In 2014, the airline posted losses of 18.4 million shekel. On 25 May 2015, an Israir Airbus A320-200 has been seized by Portuguese authorities while in Lisbon over unpaid debts to Portuguese airline euroAtlantic Airways for a leasing contract in 2008. Also in May 2015, El Al confirmed it was in talks to merge its subsidiary Sun D'Or into Israir. While Sun D'Or would be dissolved, El Al would gain shares in Israir instead.

In October 2020, it was announced that the company is being auctioned off, the bids need to be submitted by November 8. On October 4, the first bid was submitted by Rami Levy and Shalom Haim through BGI Investments. On October 13, Dubai-based NY Koen Group, headed by Naum Koen, has announced its intention to participate in the auction.

In 2025, Israir announced plans to relaunch of flights to New York from Tel Aviv providing competition to the route after U.S. carriers suspended service in the wake of Iran's attacks on Israel. The airline acquired two former American Airlines A330-200 widebody aircraft to operate the longhaul service.

In August 2026, the airline received final regulatory permission from the Federal Aviation Authority to begin service between Israel and the United States, with service between New York City and Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. The airline had planned to begin service on October 19 but may start earlier, given the timing of the FAA approval.

Destinations

Codeshare partners

Israir has codeshare agreements with the following airline:

Smartwings

Fleet

, Israir operates the following aircraft:Israir announced during December 2025 that it would purchase two Airbus A330 aircraft for $74 million.

Incidents and accidents

In June 2001, one of Israir's ATR 42-320 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, and a Douglas DC-8 cargo aircraft narrowly avoided collision by taking off at full throttle above them, with only 45 feet of clearance over the 767.
In May 2007, an Israir aircraft on a test flight was almost shot down by Israeli 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. No one was injured in the incident.
In July 2008, an Israir aircraft flew from Eilat Airport to Ben Gurion International Airport with a small hole in its frame. The hole was discovered by mechanics at Ben Gurion and there was an investigation as to whether or not Israir knew of the hole, which, as it turns out, was caused by Israir workers in Eilat when they crashed a mobile staircase into the aircraft's body. The plane was scheduled to fly to Italy from Tel Aviv, and at an altitude of over 10,000 meters, the plane would most likely have experienced a decompression.
In January 2025, an Israir aircraft that was meant to fly from Tel Aviv to London declared an emergency and returned to Ben Gurion International Airport after flying in circles for three hours to burn fuel before landing.
In July 2026, an Israir aircraft preparing to fly from London Luton Airport to Tel Aviv was damaged by a ground service vehicle, leading to the flight being cancelled. Israir said that it was the third time in less than a year that one of its aircraft had been damaged by a service vehicle at this specific airport. Israeli officials asked for an investigation into the issue, suspecting an intentional act and a nationalist motive.