Kish Air
Kish Airlines is an airline operating from Kish Island, Iran. It operates international, domestic and charter services as a scheduled carrier. Its main base is Mehrabad International Airport, Tehran.
History
The airline was established on December 16, 1989 and started operations in 1990. It is owned by Kish Free Zone Organisation, Kish Investment and Development and Kish Development and Servicing.To start its passenger operations, after receiving temporary operations permission, the airline leased two aircraft from Bulgaria Airlines on a wet lease basis. Kish Air received its air operator certificate in 1991 after demonstrating its competence to the Civil Aviation authorities, during its first year of operations, thus becoming the first private company to receive its AOC from Civil Aviation of Iran. At this time the company began wet leasing three Tupolev Tu-154Ms 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, and most of the key managers were replaced by a new team, most of whom are still running the company successfully today. In 1999 Kish Air having enough financial strength, decided to replace its wet leased fleet with dry leased and purchased aircraft, and within a year was able to operate two dry leased and two purchased Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft, and hire and train the required air crew and maintenance personnel. At present Kish Air is also operating a fleet of medium range MD-80 series aircraft and short range Fokker 100 on its domestic and international routes.
Destinations
As of August 2018, Kish Air operates services to the following destinations:| Country | City | Airport | Notes | Refs |
| Iran | Abadan | Abadan International Airport | ||
| Iran | Abu Musa Island | Abu Musa Airport | ||
| Iran | Ahwaz | Ahwaz International Airport | ||
| Iran | Asalouyeh | Asalouyeh Airport | ||
| Iran | Bandar Abbas | Bandar Abbas Airport | ||
| Iran | Birjand | Birjand Airport | ||
| Iran | Gorgan | Kish International Airport | ||
| Iran | Isfahan | Isfahan International Airport | ||
| Iran | Kermanshah | Kermanshah Airport | ||
| Iran | Kish Island | Kish International Airport | ||
| Iran | Mahshahr | Mahshahr Airport | ||
| Iran | Mashhad | Mashhad International Airport | ||
| Iran | Qeshm | Qeshm Airport | ||
| Iran | Shiraz | Shiraz International Airport | ||
| Iran | Tabriz | Tabriz International Airport | ||
| Iran | Tehran | Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport | ||
| Iran | Tehran | Tehran Mehrabad International Airport | ||
| Iran | Yazd | Shahid Sadooghi Airport | ||
| Iraq | Najaf | Al Najaf International Airport | ||
| Kuwait | Kuwait City | Kuwait International Airport | ||
| Oman | Muscat | Muscat International Airport | ||
| Turkey | Isparta | Isparta Süleyman Demirel Airport | ||
| Turkey | Istanbul | Istanbul Atatürk Airport | ||
| Turkey | Izmir | Adnan Menderes Airport | ||
| United Arab Emirates | Dubai | Dubai International Airport | ||
| United Arab Emirates | Sharjah | Sharjah International Airport |
Fleet
As of August 2019, 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 :- 2 Airbus A320 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 one of the cabin crew and landed in Israel, where the hijacker was arrested.
- On 10 February 2004, Kish Air Flight 7170, operated by a Fokker 50 Mk.050, crashed at Sharjah International Airport killing 43 people. Three survived with serious injuries. The cause was that the propellors were put into reverse pitch while the aircraft was in flight.