Kish Air

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 and four McDonnell Douglas MD-82/MD-83) from Bulgaria Airlines on a wet lease basis. Kish Air received its air operator certificate (AOC) 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 aircrew 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.

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

Kish Air McDonnell Douglas MD-82 at Dubai International Airport

Kish Air Airbus A320 at Mehrabad Airport, Tehran

As of April 2023, Kish Air operates the following aircraft:[3]

• On 19 September 1995, Kish Air Flight 707 was hijacked by flight attendant Reza Jabbari and landed in Israel, where the hijacker was arrested. Jabbari requested asylum and declared his intention of converting to Judaism.[6] Sentenced to eight years in prison, he served four years but was granted asylum and remained in Israel.[7] He eventually became an Israeli citizen and converted to Judaism.[8]
• 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 propellers were put into reverse pitch while the aircraft was in flight.[9]

• List of airlines of Iran

Media related to Kish Air at Wikimedia Commons

• Kish Air fleet list
• Kish Air photos