Last Israeli Dash 7 retired...

[Stratofreighter]

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Posted Wed Mar 10 2010 02:04:47 your local time and read 520 times:

Last week arkia made it’s last scheduled Dash 7 flight, and later on this month all last 4 operational Dash 7 planes will leave Israel to their buyer in the USA. This means the End of 29 years of service of the Dash 7 in Israel, 15 of them the plane was the sole operating airplane on Israel’s domestic routes.

The De Havilland Canada DHC 7 arrived to Israel in 1981 aimed to replace the Viscounts and Heralds. The DHC 7 proved to fit just right to the Israeli domestic aviation market, operating not only from Ben Gurion, Dov Hoz and Eilat Hozman, but also from Mahanaiim, Haifa and Kiryat Shmona. Arkia had 12 Dash 7 during the years, making it the world largest operator of Dash 7 airplanes.

Between 1981 to 1996 the Dash 7 was the sole plane operating in the Israeli domestic market. In 1996 Israir entered service ATR-42 planes, and in 1999 arkia started replacing the Dash 7 with new ATR 72-500s (choosing them over the Dash 8-Q400). This year, Arkia recived it’s latest ATR 72-500 (4X-AVT) and the 2 last remaining Dash 7 were removed from service, one in January and the last one a week ago (4X-AHF).