Judah 1, World’s First Christian Airline Aims for 2021 Launch, Plans to Transport Missionaries Around the World

The current fleet of Judah 1, a non-profit aviation ministry that hopes to become the first-ever Christian airline in 2021. | Everett Aaron

A nonprofit ministry is set to launch the first-ever Christian airline next year, providing a source of travel for missionaries seeking to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ across the globe.

Judah 1, currently based out of Shreveport Regional Airport in Shreveport, Louisiana, has already carried small groups of missionaries to disaster areas and mission fields in its capacity as a private airline.

But starting next year, Judah 1 will “go from being private, which is what we are now, to an actual airline standard,” Judah 1 President and CEO Everett Aaron told The Christian Post in an interview.

When this happens, Judah 1 will have a Federal Aviation Administration certification, putting it in the same league as well-known airlines such as Delta. While the ministry currently deploys smaller aircraft for small teams of missionaries, the airline is planning to acquire larger planes that can fly hundreds of people by the end of 2021.

“By the end of next year, we would like to have three to four large planes,” he stated. “As of yesterday, we now have being added to our fleet a Boeing 767-200ER. … It seats 238 people and can go anywhere in the world with one-stop. It carries 30 tons of cargo.”

In spite of its new status, there will still be differences between Judah 1 and the other airlines that have become household names in the U.S. and around the world.

“We will be non-scheduled and we do not have to have approved routes,” Aaron said. “So, that means we can go where we want when we want, unlike most airlines … that have to have certain schedules that they fly, have to have certain routes. We don’t have to do that.”

While missionaries will have to pay airfare, Judah 1 has “no baggage fees and no cargo fees.”

“So all of the missionaries’ cargo goes for free,” Aaron explained.

Since it’s likely that Judah 1’s imminent launch as the first-ever Christian airline will take place in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, Aaron says there will be extra precautions in place just as the non-profit ministry has already done with flights that have taken off during the pandemic.

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SOURCE: Christian Post, Ryan Foley