Summary
- Palestine Airways, Aviron, and Palestinian Airlines were key commercial air carriers in Palestine.
- The aviation industry in Palestine has been bleak since Israeli destruction of airports.
- Palestinian Airlines faced numerous challenges, from relocation to privatization attempts.
There have been a few notable airlines in Palestine that have facilitated connections abroad, particularly for (but not limited to) pilgrimages. However, following the Israeli destruction of both Jerusalem Airport and Gaza International Airport, the picture of the Palestinian aviation industry is at present very bleak. No airline currently flies to Palestine, not least because there is no commercial airport to operate to that can accommodate passengers. Palestine Airways, Aviron, and Palestinian Airlines are the three important commercial air carriers in region’s history.
Palestine Airways
Palestine Airways, registered in London in December 1934, was founded by Pinhas Rutenberg, a Russian businessman and hydraulic engineer. It was established in collaboration with Britain’s Imperial Airways, which provided operational and technical support, complemented by an investment of 20,000 pounds of shares.
It began operations in 1937, with the opening ceremony at Lydda Airport in August 1937. Rutenberg, while a Zionist, saw a need to work with local Palestinians and hired Arab workers in contrast to the labor movement’s demands to employ Jews exclusively. He did not recognize their nationalist motives but instead accepted their status as the indigenous population. His motives were also economic: it made sense to employ workers who spoke Arabic and were culturally Arabs to foster relations with neighboring countries and hopefully make a profit.
The airline began with two British-built Short S.16 Scion aircraft with space for six passengers. Powered by Pobjoy engines, the aircraft were the first registered in Palestine as VQ-PAA and VQ-PAB.
It eventually acquired two additional aircraft, an eight-seater De Havilland DH89A Dragon Rapide and a 10-seater Short S.22 Scion Senior. The airline’s best year was 1938, during which 6400 passengers were flown. Initially operating flights between Lydda and Haifa twice a week, the airline relocated its main base to Tel Aviv in 1938 and began double-daily operations to Haifa before extending the services to Beirut.
Related
The Palestinian Version Of Air Force One: Yasser Arafat’s Aviation Diplomacy
Donated by Iraq? Operated by the Tunisians? Insured by the Algerians? Here’s the story of Yasser Arafat’s travels by plane.
Rutenberg ensured that Imperial Airways played a limited role in Palestine Airways’ operations. While a stakeholder, they would not directly interfere in the day-to-day operations, maintaining a certain separation. The British company helped Palestine Airways establish flight permits for services to Damascus, Beirut, Alexandria, and Baghdad.
Photo: Israel Government Press Office
Both Palestine Airways’ failure and Aviron’s failure are linked to the Second World War and the formation of Israel, as detailed below.
Aviron
Aviron, wrongly deemed the pioneer of Jewish aviation in Mandatory Palestine, given that Palestine Airways came first, emerged in 1938 as a flight school. The company aimed to train Jewish pilots and establish domestic air services. And so it did: By November 1948, 108 students had obtained their official licenses, and services between Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Tiberias had been established.
According to a 2020 study covering the disappearance of Palestine Airways from the national aviation narrative, newspapers regularly referred to Aviron as the sole or primary pioneer of Jewish aviation by 1948. Its disappearance was not because Palestine Airways was considered less of a national venture than Aviron because of its ties to the British, as it too contributed to Zionist goals through the Haganah, a Zionist military organization, for instance. Instead, its disappearance was linked to the rise of a Zionist ideology that did not see any possibility of Jewish cooperation with the indigenous Palestinian people.
The Aviron fleet
A lack of clear documentation means the Aviron fleet is difficult to list in detail. However, we do know the following aircraft were part of the fleet from a mix of photographic and textual sources:
- A De Havilland D.H.89A Dragon Rapide (VQ-PAR)
- A RWD-15 (VQ-PAE)
- Four RWD 13s (VQ-PAM, VQ-PAF, VQ-PAL, VQ-PAM)
- Two De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth (VQ-PAN, VQ-PAU)
- A RWD-8 (VQ-PAK)
- A Miles M3A Falcon Major (VQ-PAO)
The end of Palestine Airways and Aviron
Aviron formed the origins of the Israeli Air Force. In 1947, Aviron’s aircraft had been virtually fully transferred to the newly founded Sherut Avir, which was considered an illegal and clandestine Jewish air force. This later became the Israeli Air Force in 1948 after the foundation of Israel, with 25 aircraft.
Photo: Israel Government Press Office
As World War II broke out, Palestine Airways and Aviron could not operate as aviation companies. Palestine Airways was largely dismantled due to the dissolution of operational partner Imperial Airways and the British Royal Air Force seizing its Scion aircraft in 1940. Whatever was left of the carrier was absorbed into a new company that was meant to be a merger between Palestine Airways and Aviron under the former’s name. Instead, El Al Israel was created under government ownership.
In 1944, Aviron returned briefly, and attempts were also made to rectify Palestine Airways. The latter failed, but Aviron continued to operate services within Palestine as well as select services to Nicosia, Cyprus, and some European capitals, such as London, England.
Palestinian Airlines
Palestinian Airlines was founded in 1995 with the aim of once again connecting Occupied Palestine with the region. Over its history, the carrier faced a number of challenges, not least the destruction of its main hub at Gaza International Airport (GZA), which forced it to relocate its operating base to El Arish Airport in Egypt.
It was founded by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in 1995. It received its first aircraft a year later from the Netherlands, which donated two Fokker 50s (SU-YAI and SU-YAH) as part of a political aid package. The airline’s first flight was from Port Said Airport in Egypt, while regular services began a few months later from El-Arish. Per a report by the New York Times in 1998, passengers were forced to take “a night-long trek by bus from Gaza to El Arish, moving slowly through Palestinian, Israeli and Egyptian checkpoints to board flights that took far less time than the ground journey.”
At the opening of Gaza Airport in November of 1998, a member of the Palestinian Cabinet proclaimed, according to the New York Times:
“I am standing on Palestinian soil, and I have an airport, I have a flag, I have an airplane. This is our path to the independent Palestinian state.”
The airline inevitably shifted operations to the new airport, with its first flight taking off in December 1998 bound for Amman.
As it was under Israeli occupation, Palestinian authorities did not have complete or exclusive jurisdiction over operational matters. Instead, Israel oversaw all passengers, luggage, schedules, routes, and aircraft. In addition, Israel made sure GZA could only operate during the day as it blocked Germany’s donation of night landing equipment.
A Boeing 727 was inducted in 2000, and aircraft utilization averaged four hours daily for the overall fleet. The carrier also added two De Havilland DHC-8-300s, which were delivered in 2000 (registered SU-YAM and SU-YAN).
Executive Director Yousef Shaath said:
“During 2000, the airline worked towards the Palestinian National Authority’s objective of privatization.”
However, efforts to privatize were abandoned in September of 2000 after Israeli air strikes severely damaged GZA. Operations were moved to El-Arish Airport thanks to agreements with the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority and Egyptair, which allow the carrier to use the airport when flights from GZA are unviable.
The 2000s and the end
By moving to Al Arish, the airline also needed to downsize. By 2004, only two weekly flights were offered to Amman, Jordan, in winter, which increased to four weekly flights in summer. The airline leased its Dash 8s to other airlines, and both were withdrawn from the airline’s fleet for good that same year. Meanwhile, the acquired 727 was grounded for maintenance reasons. Shaath told Airfinance Journal in 2004:
“$5 million needs to be spent on the aircraft to make it airworthy but this is not viable because the plane is old fashioned and by 2005 it will be prohibited from operating internationally because of new restrictions on noise levels.”
In 2005, the airline was forced to suspend its operations completely. It was able to resurrect itself in 2012 and leased its two Fokker 50s out to Niger Airlines from 2014 and 2015, respectively, which almost single-handedly acted as its financial lifeline. When the agreement ended in the summer of 2020, Palestinian Airlines was in trouble: it attempted to sell its two aircraft, and in December 2020, the carrier ceased all flights.