About a year ago, I first wrote about an Israeli airline startup, with some big names behind it (both in terms of deep pockets and aviation experience). I wanted to share an update, as the airline will soon take delivery of its first aircraft, and plans to launch operations in the coming months.
In this post:
Plans for a new airline based at Haifa Airport
Air Haifa is a new low cost airline that’s going to be based at Haifa Airport (HFA), in the north of Israel. Not only is this the first Israeli airline startup since the 1990s, but it’ll also be the first airline to be based in Haifa, which is a useful alternative to flying out of Tel Aviv (TLV), given how busy the airport can get.
There are also some serious people behind the airline, including the former CEO, CCO, and VP of Operations, of EL AL. The biggest shareholder of this new airline is Nir Zuk, founder of Palo Alto Networks.
So, what’s the business plan?
- Air Haifa will operate out of Haifa Airport, year-round to destinations in the Mediterranean and Red Sea; initial destinations could include Eilat (ETM) and Larnaca (LCA)
- Air Haifa will operate a fleet of ATR 72-600 turboprops, in a single cabin layout, with 72 seats in a 2-2 configuration; the first aircraft will be delivered in late July 2024
- Air Haifa will be a low cost carrier, offering “simple, affordable, and convenient air travel”
- Air Haifa has the goal of “bringing economic opportunity to the three million Israelis who live in the north of the country”
- Air Haifa hopes to launch operations soon, as early as September 2024, though flights aren’t yet on sale
- Air Haifa is marketing convenience as a major draw of flying with the airline — “instead of a long drive to the airport and arriving three hours before the flight to wait on lines and at the gate, our passengers will enjoy the convenience of flying internationally from their local airport and getting from their doorstep to onboard the airplane in less than 90 minutes”
Currently, Air Haifa has obtained approval for a commercial license from Israel’s Transportation Minister, and the airline is now in the final stages of receiving an operating license from Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority.
For those curious about the company’s logo, it’s a pine cone. Here’s the explanation for that:
We’re proud to identify ourselves with northern Israel and its environment, embodied in the blue of the Mediterranean and the green pine forests of Haifa’s Har HaCarmel. Our company logo, a pine cone, embodies our commitment to making Israeli aviation as sustainable and environment-friendly as it can be.
This is certainly a unique airline startup…
In so many parts of the world we see airline startups basically replicating one another, and not bringing much to the table. So in that sense, Air Haifa deserves a lot of credit, as it’s not your conventional airline startup.
Currently, Haifa Airport only sees a very limited amount of seasonal airline traffic, and it’s otherwise a general aviation airport. So having an extensive network out of a convenient airport is good for consumers.
The challenge with Haifa Airport is that the runway is only 4,324 feet long. This means that in its current form, the airport can only accommodate turboprops. That also explains why Air Haifa doesn’t have plans to fly any jets.
On the surface, launching a low cost carrier with planes that don’t have great per-seat operating costs may seem counterintuitive. But I think what the airline is doing makes sense — it has access to a huge market, and hopes to offer the combination of convenience and good value. Don’t expect Ryanair or Wizz Air pricing here, though.
It’ll be interesting to see how this project develops. There are plans for Haifa Airport to eventually be expanded, with a longer runway. So I suppose Air Haifa is playing the long game here, and recognizes that this is a region with a sizable population, so there’s a lot of growth potential.
Bottom line
Air Haifa is an airline startup that will be based at Israel’s Haifa Airport. The airline will shortly be taking delivery of its first aircraft, and plans to launch operations in the coming months. It’s interesting to see a low cost carrier that flies turboprops, since that’s not exactly ideal in terms of low per-seat operating costs. Then again, there’s not much of an option here, given the length of the runway in Haifa.
What’s your take on Air Haifa?
Are there any plans to try and establish a code share with a larger airline?
I think the problem is that they would have to be able to reach Athens to do it, and maybe link up with Aegean. I would doubt you have a major airline going into Larnaca with whom they could do that.
I checked - Athens is 622 nm from Haifa, which is close to the maximum range of the plane and could be a problem when heading west into prevailing winds.
Why do I feel like this will do as well as Air Antwerp did?
Ben, what's the range on these planes? How far into Europe can they reach?
ATR lists its range at 740 nm (1370 km) but flying west to Europe into headwinds would shorten that. Might be able to reach as far as Athens but no more than that.
Cyprus and Greece in summer, Plovdiv for Skiing in winter
Honestly I think it’s brilliant. You have your own catchment to yourself so you have pricing power and you can really restrict capacity with the smaller aircraft. I bet they oppose and lengthening of the runway. I love new turboprops.
Don't think I would want to take to the air that close to Lebanon
Every flight from Israel to Europe is pretty close to Lebanon lol, that's why El al has anti missile protection on the plane. This really wouldn't be different from El al once in air, I would much more understand your argument though if you said that the airport itself is more risky because it's closer to the north.
Perfect for short trips to the west bank.
This has great potential. Lots of Israelis live a decent distance from TLV and would like an alternative for short hops to “local” destinations within Israel and abroad. Even Dubai is (just barely) within ATR-72 range. The time lost in flight in a turboprop may well balance out with the hassle and time to get to TLV.
I don't think ATR-72 can't make it to Dubai, probably not even beyond Red Sea.
Time lost in a turboprop is nothing compare to time lost because of not flying over skies that you're not welcomed.
Saudi, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey airspace all open to Israeli carriers currently. Political posturing in the ME is only to satisfy the masses, the realities are often much different!
A fully loaded ATR-72 has a 1,370km range, Dubai is much further.
Practically they can fly to Greece, which can provide plenty of demand during summer.
I wonder what they'd do in winter though.
They don’t claim to be a low cost carrier..
It's a shame that Sde Dov (SDV) in northern Tel Aviv was forced to close a few years ago. It was super convenient and a no stress alternative to Ben Gurion (TLV) for short hops. In 2012 I flew Israir (6H) between SDV and ETH which was within the city of Eilat. ETH was also permanently closed several years ago; it was replaced by a more distant airport. I only needed 10-minute taxi rides to and from SDV and ETH.
I had the same flight in 2011. Although I must confess I had a terrible time with airport security. The boys were clearly being trained to act in Ben Gurion. It ended up in a big discussion because of their total invasion of my privacy (they even tried to see the pics in my digital camera at that time) but I must admit they kept the flight waiting untill I was cleared by them to fly.
TLV security was tough but we had no issues with security at SDV and ETH. Once we were airside at ETH, we ending up eating lunch with a couple of friendly, young, female Israeli soldiers who had been either observing or working security.
Even if there is a sufficient israeli potential market who would want to fly them, it’s a pretty shaky business plan when the genocide sanction airspace closures come in.
How many domestic routes are there in Israel their business could support?
Talk to me about S7’s route map…
Try arguing with facts....
Not sure ‘future facts’ are a thing buddy…
Future facts are not a thing. Genocide sanction airspace closures as similarly not a thing (outside the imagination of some people).
You're obviously not a potential customer. Have a safe flight on Mahan Air.
Which airspace closures would that be? Besides Syria and Iraq all the neighboring countries have yet to close their airspace to Israel.
"Genocide sanction airspace closures" are just like that genocide: Non existent.
Russian airlines are banned from flying to/over much of the western world due to the war in Ukraine, and that was before evidence of genocide started to emerge.
Now that we’re starting to unravel israel’s slimy lobbying tentacles from the throats of western policy makers and The Hague is starting to do its work we will hopefully see similar sanctions for israel’s widely documented genocide.
Killing children is a pretty hard red line for...
Russian airlines are banned from flying to/over much of the western world due to the war in Ukraine, and that was before evidence of genocide started to emerge.
Now that we’re starting to unravel israel’s slimy lobbying tentacles from the throats of western policy makers and The Hague is starting to do its work we will hopefully see similar sanctions for israel’s widely documented genocide.
Killing children is a pretty hard red line for most of the civilised world - be you hamas or israel, two sides of the same evil coin.
Only the ignorant think that.
Hey Ben,
airHaifa doesn’t intend to fly to Bucharest, never did.. regional destinations only. Likely to begin with HFA-Eilat and Cyprus.. cheers