DALLAS — Air Haifa, a new low-cost airline startup based in Haifa, is set to complete its licensing process as soon as September to start ATR 72-600 aircraft operations from northern Israel.

The new airline, which received clearance for a commercial license from Transportation Minister Miri Regev in September 2023, said today that it was nearing the end of the application process for an operational license from the Civil Aviation Authority of the state of Israel.

The new LCC intends to offer affordable, high-frequency, regularly scheduled flights from Haifa International Airport (HFA) to a number of locations in the Mediterranean and Red Sea, including maybe Cyprus, as well as the southern vacation city of Eilat.

Air Haifa Founders

Air Haifa was co-founded in 2023 by a group of Israeli businessmen led by Nir Zuk, the American-Israeli founder of Palo Alto Networks, a cybersecurity behemoth, and Lior Yavor, along with former senior executives of El Al Israel Airlines (LY), Israel's flag carrier, Gonen Usishkin and Michael Strassburger.

Claiming to be the first commercial airline established in Haifa, the new LCC is Israel's first new airline since the 1990s.