This 1977 built DHC-6 was Arkia's sole Twin Otter and flew for the airline between April 1989 and May 1997. Founded in 1949 as Eilat Airlines, Arkia's initial main purpose has been, as the name suggested, to serve the domestic Tel Aviv - Eilat route. Later, additional domestic destinations were added, and Arkia did operate many different a/c types, mainly in small numbers. Arkia's most popular and longest serving a/c type was the four engined DHC-7 Dash 7, of which the airline did operate no less than 13 airframes between September 1981 and early 2011, a span of almost three decades.