Israel holds the world record for 1088 passengers onboard

Israel carried out Operation Solomon to rescue the endangered Ethiopian Jewish community. Israel brought home over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews -- and a world record!

The greatest number of passengers ever carried by a commercial airliner is 1,088, by an El Al Boeing 747 during Operation Solomon, which involved the evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and started on 24 May 1991. This figure included two babies born on the flight. The operation to evacuate the Ethiopian Jews continued non-stop for 36 hours involving a total of 34 El Al jumbo jets and Hercules C-130s - with seats removed to accommodate the maximum number of passengers.

The flight was just one of 40 which were put on to evacuate a total of 14,200 Jews to their promised land from Addis Ababa, the besieged capital of Ethiopia, all in the space of 24 hours. The exercise, codenamed ‘Operation Solomon’, had been planned over several weeks with US diplomatic assistance, and President Bush personally helped with the request to the Ethiopian government for permission to be granted to carry out the airlift. The Jewish Agency for Israel and El Al, the Israeli national airline, helped co-ordinate the whole operation.

Source: Guiness World Records






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