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El Al Israel Airlines (אל על, Hebrew: skywards) is the national airline of Israel. It operates international scheduled passenger flights to Africa, Asia, North America, Europe and the Middle East and is based at Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv.
History
The airline was established on 15 November 1948 and started operations in August 1949 with a service from Tel Aviv to Rome and Paris, extended a year later to London. Non-stop Tel Aviv to New York services were introduced on 15 June 1961, when its Boeing 707 set the world record for the longest non-stop commercial flight covering 5,760 miles in 9 hours, 33 minutes. On 24 May 1991 an El Al Boeing 747 airlifted a record-breaking 1,087 passengers - Ethiopian Jews flying from Addis Ababa to Israel as part of Operation Solomon. In February 1995 El Al finally left the technical receivership it had been operating under since 1982. Uniquely, all international El Al planes are fitted with anti-Missile equipment.
The first phase of a long delayed privatisation was initiated in June 2003 when 15% of the airline's shares were listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Arkia Israel Airlines parent company, Knafaim-Arkia Holdings, acquired a large stake in mid-2004 and intends to take complete ownership. The current owners are Knafaim-Arkia Holdings (40%), private investors (30%) and the state (30%). It employs 5,417 staff.
Destinations
El Al operates the following services (as of June 2006):
Domestic
- Eilat (international online connections only)
- Ovda (international online connections only)
- Tel Aviv (hub)
Africa
Asia
Europe
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Lithuania
- Vilnius (Vilnius International Airport) Seasonal
- Poland
- Romania
- Russia
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
North America
Cargo
- Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- London, United Kingdom (Heathrow)
- Luxembourg, Luxembourg
- Mumbai, India
- New York City, USA (JFK)
- Seoul, South Korea
- Shanghai, People's Republic of China
- Almaty, Kazakhstan
- Liege, Belgium
Security
At least six (formerly two) undercover agents accompany each international El Al flight, sitting amongst passengers whilst holstering firearms. All El Al pilots are former Israeli Air Force fighter pilots, and all El Al flight crew members are trained in hand to hand combat. In fact, most El Al employees have served in the Israeli army (since national service is compulsory in Israel).
El Al security procedures also require that all passengers be interviewed individually prior to boarding, allowing El Al staff to identify possible security threats. All passengers are classified on a basic 3 tier threat scale: Israelis and Jews are usually classified as the lowest threat, Westerners are usually classified as medium level threats, and Arabs (particularly males) are usually classified as high threat. In addition, all luggage must pass through a decompression chamber; this simulates pressures during flight which may be triggers for explosives . El Al is the only airline in the world that passes all luggage through this special chamber.
The El Al fleet is also the only commercial airline fleet in the world to be equipped with anti-missile countermeasures.
As a result of the tight security, only one El Al plane has been successfully hijacked, in 1968 (see below for details).
Incidents and accidents
On July 27 1955 an El Al Lockheed Constellation plane was shot down over Bulgaria. All the crew and passengers were killed.
On July 23 1968, an El Al 707 carrying 10 crew and 38 passengers was the target of the first Arab-Israeli hijacking. Three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked the plane which was enroute from Rome, Italy to Lydda, Israel and diverted it to Algiers. The negotiations extended over 40 days. Both the hijackers and the 21 Israeli hostages ultimately went free. This was the first and only successful hijacking of an El Al flight.
Israel claimed that the hijackers left from Beirut armed, and with the full consent of the Lebanese authoroties. Henceforth, Israel held Lebanon accountable and subsequently retaliated on December 28 1968 when it raided Beirut, Lebanon's airport and destroyed 13 planes on the ground, most of which belonged to Middle East Airlines.
Passengers and crew foiled a hijacking attempt on an El Al plane in 1970. This was part of the Dawson's Field hijackings.
In the Hindawi Affair on 18 April 1986, a pregnant Irishwoman named Anne Murphy was about to board an El Al flight at London's Heathrow Airport when her bag was found to contain 3 pounds of plastic explosives. The explosives had been planted by her fiancée Nezar Hindawi who was to go on a separate flight. Hindawi was jailed for 45 years, the longest sentence ever delivered by a British court. Murphy, who had been duped, later gave birth to their daughter. There was evidence that Syrian officials were involved. Britain cut off diplomatic relations with Syria.
On October 4, 1992, El Al Flight 1862, a Boeing 747-200F cargo plane, crashed into the Groeneveen and Klein-Kluitberg flats in Bijlmermeer, a neighbourhood in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Three crew members, one passenger and 43 on the ground were killed. The aircraft was suspected of carrying a component used in the production of nerve agent amongst its cargo.
On July 4, 2002, a gunman killed 2 Israelis at the ticket counter of El Al Airlines at LAX. Although the gunman was not linked to any terrorist group, the man (an Egyptian) was upset at US support for Israel, and therefore the incident seems to have been motivated by political disagreement. This led the FBI to classify this shooting as a terrorist act, one of the few on U.S. soil since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
On October 23, 2003, an El Al Boeing 767 flying from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles via Toronto was diverted to Mirabel International Airport and then on to Hamilton Airport, where RCMP tactical teams were ready. The diversion was the result of a "severe security threat", which was later clarified as a possible surface-to-air missile attack on the aircraft upon landing in Toronto. *
On June 7, 2006, the Swiss Attorney General reported that seven North Africans were arrested in connection with a conspiracy to blow up an unspecified El Al flight the following day. At the time of the arrest, El Al's flights between Tel Aviv and London flew over the area where a ground-to-air missile was discovered.
Fleet
The all-Boeing El Al Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:
| Type | Number | Seats | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-700 | 2 | 4X-EKD, 4X-EKE | |
| Boeing 737-800 | 6 | 4X-EKA, 4X-EKB, 4X-EKC, 4X-EKI, 4X-EKO, 4X-EKP (EKO and EKP have winglets) | |
| Boeing 747-200 | 5 | 4X-AXF, 4X-AXH, 4X-AXK, 4X-AXL, 4X-AXM Used for cargo only | |
| Boeing 747-400 | 5 | 4X-ELA, 4X-ELB, 4X-ELC, 4X-ELD, 4X-ELS | |
| Boeing 757-200 | 5 | 4X-EBO, 4X-EBS, 4X-EBT, 4X-EBU, 4X-EBV | |
| Boeing 767-200 | 2 | 4X-EAA, 4X-EAB | |
| Boeing 767-200ER | 4 | 4X-EAC, 4X-EAD, 4X-EAE, 4X-EAF | |
| Boeing 767-300ER | 2 (1 on order) | 4X-EAJ, 4X-EAP (4X-EAR will arrive in November 2006) | |
| Boeing 777-200ER | 4 (2 on order) | 4X-ECA, 4X-ECB, 4X-ECC, 4X-ECD (4X-ECE will be delivered in July 2007, 4X-ECF will be delivered in August 2007) |
Codeshare Partners
ElAl has the following codeshare partners, per their website, as of July 2006.
- Aerosvit Airlines
- Austrian Airlines
- Bulgaria Air
- Cyprus Airways
- Delta Air Lines
- Iberia Airlines
- Lot Polish Airlines
- SN Brussels Airlines
- South African Airways
- Swiss
- Tandem Aero
- Thai Airways
References
External links
Airlines of Israel | Airlines of the Middle East
El Al | El Al | El Al | El Al | El Al | El Al | אל על | El Al | El Al | エル・アル航空 | El Al | El Al | El Al | El Al | El Al
"El Al"