Palestine Liberation Organisation Air Wing (defunct)

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) established its air arm in the late 1960's. During this period, young Palestinians were dispatched to a number of Arab and some Eastern Bloc countries, to enroll at flying and aircraft mechanic schools.


By the end of the 1970's, the air arm of the PLO had trained pilots and ground engineers at their disposal.

One of the objectives apart from training Palestinian pilots and technicians in Arab air forces (on the job training), was to assign pilots and technicians to air forces of nations friendly to the PLO in the "Third World". 


The air wing of the PLO was comparatively a small entity with very limited resources and manpower. After the Oslo agreement in 1993 and the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), the PLO’s air wing was disbanded.

The pilots, engineers and other personnel were absorbed in the newly formed airline, PNA's civil aviation department, Gaza Airport, and PLO’s Chairman VIP flight department. 

The last serving Commander of PLO’s air wing was Brig. General Faiz Zaidan, who subsequently became, the Chairman of the Palestinian Airlines, Director-General of Civil Aviation Department and the Director of Gaza Airport.

At one time the PLO had the following aircraft (mainly helicopters and Cargo) dispersed  at various locations (Yemen-North, Libya, Algeria):

  • Bell 206 JetRanger (registration: SU-YAC,  SU-YAD, SU-YAE)
  • Agusta Bell AB 212
  • Boeing 707 (S/N: 18765 registration: 5A-DJM, S/N: 5233 registration: 7T-VHP)
  • Mil Mi-8, Hip (S/N: 10710 registration:  SU-YAA, S/N: 10722 registration: SU-YAB , S/N: 202M08 registration: SU-YAF, S/N: 341M16, registration: SU-YAG)

  Information sources: please see HERE

Palestinian Authority Airport
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