Palestinian Airlines Back in the Skies after 7 Years

Associated Press (AP)29.05.2012 Aviation & Space
Palestinian Airlines Back in the Skies after 7 Years

Palestinian Airlines Back in the Skies after 7 Years

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Palestinian Airlines is back in the skies after being grounded for seven years by the deepening enmities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


Once hailed as a symbol of Palestinian statehood dreams, the carrier is a tiny operation, with just two 48-seat turboprop planes, 2 weekly flights and a borrowed hub in Egypt. But Palestinians say just being on the map again is what matters.

In the late 1990s, when Palestinians appeared on the verge of a statehood deal with Israel, Palestinian Airlines operated from Gaza International Airport, flew tens of thousands of passengers a year to Middle Eastern destinations and planned to expand to Europe.

Those ambitions were crushed by the outbreak of a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in September 2000, following the collapse of U.S.-led peace talks. Over the next year, Israeli troops destroyed the Gaza airport, and Palestinian Airlines was forced to move its base to El-Arish, an Egyptian coastal resort about 60 kilometers from Gaza.

Seven years ago, the airline stopped flying altogether after its reservoir of passengers dried up. It had mainly served Gazans who, starting in 2005, could no longer reach El-Arish because of increasingly frequent Israeli closures of Gaza’s borders.

The closures accompanied an Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 and intensified with the capture of an Israeli soldier by Gaza militants a year later and the violent takeover of Gaza by the Islamic militant Hamas in 2007.

Until last year, the vast majority of Gaza’s 1.7 million residents were locked inside the territory, in part because Egypt went along with Israel and largely kept its Rafah border terminal with Gaza closed.

After the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, Rafah gradually reopened and Gazans are now able to travel, though restrictions remain, particularly for men under 40, who need Egyptian security clearance.

Palestinian Airlines once again had potential customers. On May 9 it resumed operations, starting with bi-weekly flights between El-Arish and Marka Airbase in the Jordanian capital of Amman. The new route means Gazans no longer have to travel to Cairo, some 350 kilometers from their territory, to board planes.

In one of the many political twists of Palestine air travel, the carrier is owned by the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank-based political rival of Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

Gaza and the West Bank lie on opposite sides of Israel which has banned virtually all movement between the two territories that, along with east Jerusalem, are one day to make up a Palestinian state. All three areas were captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War.

The West Bank does not have an airport, and Israel is unlikely to approve Palestinian Authority plans to build one, citing security concerns. West Bank residents have to fly from neighboring Jordan.

Palestinian Airlines operates 2 Fokker 50 turboprop planes, remnants of the original fleet that also included a since-retired Boeing 727. The Fokkers were donated by the Netherlands and the 727 by Saudi Arabia.

During the years of idleness, Palestinian Airlines leased one of the Fokkers to an Egyptian carrier, Memphis, whose logo is still painted on the plane. The other plane is marked by black, red and green stripes on the tail, the colors of the Palestinian flag.

On Sunday, the Amman-El-Arish flight carried 27 passengers, and 44 were booked on the return trip later in the day. The flight takes an hour and 35 minutes, more than double the time needed for the direct route over Israel. The airline does not have permission to cross Israeli air space, said Regional Director Azmi Samaan.

Airline officials said flights to Saudi Arabia for Muslim pilgrims from Gaza are set to begin later this week, and routes to the United Arab Emirates and Turkey are being planned.

The airline hopes it will eventually turn a profit, but for now national pride and making life easier for the Gazans are more important, said Samaan.

“We want the Palestinian flag to continue flying; this is part of the independent state, to have an airline, no matter what it will cost us.”

Source: Associated Press - AP

 



 
 

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