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%).[citation needed]
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. Kish Air received its air operator certificate (AOC) in 1991, 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.[when?] In 1999, Kish Air having enough financial strength, decided to replace its wet-leased fleet with dry leased and purchased aircraft, and 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[when?] Kish Air also operates a fleet of medium-range MD-80 series aircraft and short-range Fokker 100 on its domestic and international routes.
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.[6]
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.[8] Sentenced to eight years in prison, he served four years but was granted asylum and remained in Israel.[9] He eventually became an Israeli citizen and converted to Judaism.[10]
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