Palair

During the fall of Yugoslavia, and the establishment of an Independent Macedonian republic in the early nineties, Palair Macedonian airlines was created.

Their fleet began with a Tupolev Tu-154 but was soon followed by a leased Fokker F-28 and F-100, the planes were first in white and red, and later all red with yellow text.

When the UN dropped sanctions against Yugoslavia in 1996, Yugoslav national airline JAT Yugoslav Airlines restarted operations, leading to a drastic drop in Palair's passenger numbers. Palair Macedonian ceased operations in September 1996.

Fleet

Tupolev Tu-154B (4) - leased from Balkan Bulgarian Airlines and bore Bulgarian registration

Antonov An-24 (3)

Fokker F-28 Fellowship (2)

Fokker F-100 (4)

Accident history

On 5 March 1993, Flight 301, a Fokker F-100, crashed seconds after takeoff from Skopje runway 34 on a flight to Zurich. Investigation into the accident determined the cause of the accident to be the failure of the flight crew to have the aircraft de-iced before departure. Of the 97 people on board, 83 died.