Curiosities 14 - Operation Solomon and the Record of Passengers in a 747

João Henrique Barboza Jorgetto • Jul 03, 2023

In today's text, we will learn about the history of the flight that holds the Guinness record for passengers.

In the bible, Moses leads the Jewish people's escape from Egypt on a journey full of challenges that lasts 40 years, known as the Exodus. And from then on, the history of the Jews had many good chapters and some very dark ones. One such chapter is the story of a modern "exodus" involving the Falashas, a Jewish group that lived in Ethiopia until the 1990s.

Between the years of 84 and 85, a great famine ravaged Ethiopia and many smaller tribes had to move to guarantee food. Among these peoples, some Falashas sought a form of exile, fearing threats from neighboring tribes. It is worth mentioning that the term "Falasha" is a pejorative name given to them that means "Strangers" or "Exiles". They were not the darlings among the ethnic groups that formed the people in the country's interior. The way out was to try to return to Israel, which already considered the Falashas as one of the people derived from one of the lost ancient tribes. This is how Israel organized the "Moses" operation, which evacuated more than 7,000 group members. This action was challenging for the Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, fearing it would harm the country's image in relation to some Arab countries.

The situation became more complicated in 1991, when Mengistu fled the country shortly after the victories of the guerrillas led by his opponent and chaos and insecurity once again prevailed in the country, now on the brink of a significant civil crisis. Again, the Falashas became potential targets and something needed to be done. Then, Israel organized Operation Solomon, intending to withdraw the remnants of Ethiopian territories and bring them to the country.

In this action, 36 aircraft were used, 18 C-130 Hercules and 9 Boeing 707 from the Israeli Air Force. The other planes were civilian from the airline EI AI, in the Boeing 747, Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 models. To avoid diplomatic wear or any accusation of civil aviation rule violations arising, these aircraft received a new painting without mentioning the company. The urgency of the operation led to another drastic measure: all the aircraft had their seats removed and were reconfigured as a freighter so that more people could be evacuated on each flight.

In this situation, a Boeing 747 landed in Addis Adeba, the capital of Ethiopia, for the mission. The crew expected to remove 760 passengers at once. Still, given the situation and the desperation of the Falasha in the region, the captain decided to accept everyone who was there. The boarding officially accounted for 1087 people, although unofficial data estimate it at 1120, as many small children entered hiding in their mother's clothes. However, the aircraft arrived with 1122 passengers in Israel because believe it or not, two children were born mid-flight. This number is considered the most significant number of passengers carried on a single flight in the history of aviation, including in the record books. The other jets also carried impressive numbers, averaging 500 passengers per flight.

The operation continued for 36 hours and transported more than 14,000 Falashas to Israel, where they are, to this day, known there as Beta-Israelis, as they called themselves in the ancient country. It is estimated that 90% of Ethiopian Jews are in Israel. The book "Saving the Lost Tribe", by the then-Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia, Asher Naim, tells in detail the story of the air exodus that was very successful in its end.