Kish Airlines (Persian: هواپیمایی کیش, Havāpeymāyi-e Kish) is an airline operating from Kish Island, Iran.^[1] It operates international, domestic and charter services as a scheduled carrier. Its main bases are Kish International Airport and Mehrabad International Airport, Tehran.^[2]

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.

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

As of April 2023, Kish Air operates the following aircraft:^[4]

• 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]
• On 10 February 2004, Kish Air Flight 7170, operated by a Fokker 50 Mk.050, crashed at Sharjah International Airport killing 43 people. There were three survivors with serious injuries. The cause was that the propellers were put into reverse pitch while the aircraft was in flight.^{[11][citation needed]}

• List of airlines of Iran