Wing of Zion

Zion Wing (Hebrew: כנף ציון, Knaf Tzion, Arabic: جناح صهيون, Janah Sahyoun) is the principal government transport aircraft of the State of Israel, tasked with the function of transporting the President and Prime Minister overseas during international visits. The present aircraft designated with this task, a modified Boeing 767-338ER widebody-twinjet airliner belonging to the Israeli Air Force, and made its first operational flight abroad in February 2024.

The aircraft, which originally operated commercially with civilian carriers Qantas and Australian Airlines between 2000 and 2016, was purchased secondhand by Israel in 2016 and specifically reconfigured for VIP transport duties over a span of two years, and first flew in 2019.

1940s-1950s
In the immediate months following the creation of Israel in 1948, inaugural prime minister David Ben-Gurion utilized military propeller-driven aircraft such as the Douglas DC-3 and C-47 belonging to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to travel domestically to visit several military fronts during the 1948 and 1956 Arab-Israeli conflicts.

1950s-1960s
In the 1960s, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) opted to utilize its Boeing 377 Stratocruiser cargo transports, which were capable of long-range flights, to serve as a VIP aircraft for ministerial visits abroad. The planes, which were originally civilian airliners in the service of Pan Am, were purchased secondhand by the IAF in 1962 and reconfigured to cargo-transport configurations. One of the Stratocruisers in the IAF's inventory, FX-FPY Masada (formerly Pan Am's Princess of the Pacific), was used by the IAF in 1966 to transport then-prime minister Levi Eshkol on a 25000 km trip to several African nations, including Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, Congo, Liberia, Senegal and the Ivory Coast.

1970s-2000s
From the 1970s onwards, the IAF opted to conduct VIP transport duties using its inventory of Boeing 707 jet-powered airliners. The lot of the 707s, nicknamed Re’em (Oryx), and also purchased secondhand from commercial airliners, were converted to military use by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The 707s, which were originally designated by the IAF for air-to-air refueling (AAR) duties, were quickly converted to support transport duties whenever summoned. However, a key disadvantage of the planes were that of their age and their inability to operate transatlantic routes without the need for refueling.

One of the 707s, the No. 118, flew prime minister Menachim Begin during his official visit to Egypt in 1979. Another aircraft, the No. 272, served prime ministers Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon during their respective tenures in office. Simultaneously, another 707 jet that had originally been used by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat on his historic 1977 visit to Israel and later sold by Egypt in 2005, was also purchased by the IAF in 2011 for AAR/VIP duties.

2000s-present
Since the beginning of the 2000s, senior officials of the Israeli government, including the president and the prime minister, have been transported abroad using commercial airliners leased by the Ministry of Defense from El Al, Israel's flag carrier. Although coming into force in the early 2000s, the practice of transporting Israeli officials overseas commercially was exercised in the 1970s; prime ministers Golda Meir and Menachim Begin both opted to travel commercially on long-range international routes. Nevertheless, for security reasons, senior executive officials were only allowed to travel using Israeli airlines.

Currently, for short-range international flights, El Al's inventory of Boeing 737 aircraft have been customarily used, while the larger wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 767 and 777 have been used for long-range transcontinental travel. Until recently, in anticipation of an international trip, the defense ministry used to issue a competitive bidding tender to Israeli airlines, to transport the prime minister. However, since El Al has been the only airline to operate long-range wide-body aircraft, several prime ministers have customarily chosen it over other options.

However, the practice of commercial VIP transportation was criticized several times over multiple issues of concern, primarily of that of security: the aircraft designated to transport executive officials lacked encrypted communications. This issue was highlighted in 2014, when senior Israeli intelligence officials complained about the inability to relay sensitive information to the prime minister during flights on chartered aircraft, which lacked encrypted systems. Another problem that stemmed from security reasons was that of unforeseen setbacks: in 2019, prime minister Netanyahu was forced to postpone a return flight from Poland when the Boeing 777 he had boarded was accidentally damaged by a ground vehicle just ahead of takeoff. Another incident involving Netanyahu occurred in 2023, when the 777 which had been designated to transport him to Italy was delayed for several hours, on account of several El Al pilots refusing to operate the plane in protest against his policies.

Aircraft
It is a Boeing 767-338ER passenger aircraft, which formerly belonged to Australian Airlines and Qantas and was, at the time of its purchase by Israel, about 20 years old. On November 3, 2019, the aircraft conducted its first test flight.

The original budget for its purchase, conversion and upgrade was 393 million shekels ($115 million), which by the time it first flew had grown by 50 percent to 580 million shekels. Operating the plane is expected to cost taxpayers 44.6 million shekels annually. Buying a dedicated plane was criticized – especially after it vastly exceeded the original budget – and its inauguration was postponed several times. In 2020 it was reported that the office of then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered the plane be grounded, fearing it would draw criticism during a major economic crisis with mounting unemployment as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

On December 7, 2021, after provoking controversy as to its necessity and cost, the aircraft received final approval and completed its registration and inspection process by the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority. Despite its readiness, the subsequent prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid decided not to use the aircraft.

In May 2022 it was announced that it would be transferred to maintenance storage in an especially constructed hangar at the Nevatim Airbase, pending a decision on its future use. Various proposals were raised including its conversion into a military fuel tanker or alternatively its sale for civilian use after all high-level defense and communication mechanisms would be removed.

In January 2023, with the return to power of PM Netanyahu, the plane was returned to readiness. On April 13, 2024, the plane took off from Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel.

The plane is also referred to in the media as "Israeli Air Force One", after the well known Air Force One of the United States.