Ever wish that you’d never have to fly on a turbo-prop again? The noise, vibrations and cramped cabins turn off many passengers to those aircraft yet they still fly a number of routes thanks to their generally high reliability and low operating costs. There are two airlines, however, which have been ordered to ground their prop fleets. There isn’t a problem that precludes them from operating safely. Well, sortof.
Israel has announced that they will require all flagged aircraft to carry anti-missile defense systems, effective in the next couple years. The ATRs operated by Arkira and Israir (nine total aircraft between the two) cannot be fitted with the systems and so the country’s aviation ministry is grounding them.
Probably not the most comforting reason for seeing a type go out of service, but there it is.
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Better than reliability issues…
Then the host/flag government believes that a missle defense system is necessary on domestic aircraft, I’m thinking that is NOT a place that I need to fly or be.