El Al

El Al Israel Airlines
IATA
LY ICAO
ELY Callsign
ELAL
Founded 1948
Hubs Ben Gurion International Airport
Frequent flyer program Matmid
Member lounge King David Lounge
Subsidiaries Sun D'Or[2]
Fleet size 36 (+7/8 orders)
Destinations 48
Parent company Knafaim Holdings Ltd. (42%)
State of Israel (13%)
Employees Union (8%)[1]
Company slogan "הכי בבית בעולם"
Literally: "The most at home in the world"
Translated: "Home away from home"
Headquarters Lod, Israel
Key people Israel "Izzy" Borovich (Chairman)
Haim Romano (CEO)
Website: http://www.elal.com/
El Al Israel Airlines (Hebrew: אל על‎, "skyward") (TASE: ELAL) is the flag carrier and largest airline of Israel.[3][4] From its main base and hub at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, El Al operates regular international passenger and cargo flights to Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America as well as local flights to Eilat.[5]

Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948, the airline has steadily grown, and now serves 48 destinations on four continents.[6] As the national carrier, El Al has played an important role in Israel's humanitarian rescue efforts, airlifting Jews from Ethiopia, Yemen, and other countries where their lives were in danger. The airline holds several world records, one of them for the highest number of passengers on a commercial aircraft, a record set by Operation Solomon, when Jewish refugees were brought over from Ethiopia. El Al is regarded as the most secure airline in the world, after foiling many attempted hijackings and terror attacks through its vigilant security protocols.[7]

El Al Israel Airlines (Hebrew: אל על‎, "skyward") (TASE: ELAL) is the flag carrier and largest airline of Israel.[3][4] From its main base and hub at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, El Al operates regular international passenger and cargo flights to Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America as well as local flights to Eilat.[5]

Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948, the airline has steadily grown, and now serves 48 destinations on four continents.[6] As the national carrier, El Al has played an important role in Israel's humanitarian rescue efforts, airlifting Jews from Ethiopia, Yemen, and other countries where their lives were in danger. The airline holds several world records, one of them for the highest number of passengers on a commercial aircraft, a record set by Operation Solomon, when Jewish refugees were brought over from Ethiopia. El Al is regarded as the most secure airline in the world, after foiling many attempted hijackings and terror attacks through its vigilant security protocols.[7]

El Al Israel Airlines (Hebrew: אל על‎, "skyward") (TASE: ELAL) is the flag carrier and largest airline of Israel.[3][4] From its main base and hub at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, El Al operates regular international passenger and cargo flights to Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America as well as local flights to Eilat.[5]

Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948, the airline has steadily grown, and now serves 48 destinations on four continents.[6] As the national carrier, El Al has played an important role in Israel's humanitarian rescue efforts, airlifting Jews from Ethiopia, Yemen, and other countries where their lives were in danger. The airline holds several world records, one of them for the highest number of passengers on a commercial aircraft, a record set by Operation Solomon, when Jewish refugees were brought over from Ethiopia. El Al is regarded as the most secure airline in the world, after foiling many attempted hijackings and terror attacks through its vigilant security protocols.[7]

History

[edit] Early years
In September 1948, Israel's first president, Chaim Weizmann, attended a conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Weizmann was scheduled to fly back to Israel in a government aircraft, but due to the embargo imposed on Israel at the time, this was not possible. A C-54 military transport aircraft was converted into a civilian plane for this purpose. The aircraft was painted with the El Al/Israel National Aviation Company logo and fitted with extra fuel tanks to enable a non-stop flight from Geneva to Israel. It departed from Ekron Air Base on September 28, and returned to Israel on September 30. After the flight, the aircraft was repainted and returned to military use.[8]

The airline was incorporated and became Israel's official carrier on November 15, 1948, although it used borrowed aircraft until February 1959, when two unpressurised DC-4's were purchased from American Airlines. The acquisition was funded by the Israeli government, the Jewish Agency, and other Jewish organizations. The first plane arrived at Lod Airport on April 3, 1949. Aryeh Pincus, a lawyer from South Africa, was elected head of the company. The first international flight, from Tel Aviv to Paris (refueling in Rome), took place on July 31, 1949.[9][8] By the end of 1949, the airline had flown passengers to London and Johannesburg. A regular service to London was inaugurated in the middle of 1950. Later that year, El Al acquired Universal Airways, which was owned by South African Zionists. A state-run domestic airline, Israel Inland Airlines, was founded in which El Al had a 50% stake.[8]

El Al's cargo service was inaugurated in 1950, and initially relied on military surplus C-46 aircraft. That same year, the airline initiated charter services to the USA, followed by scheduled flights soon afterwards.[8] From its earliest days, operation of the airline in keeping with Jewish tradition has been a source of friction. When the Israeli prime minister David Ben Gurion was forming his first coalition, the religious parties would not join unless Ben Gurion promised that El Al would serve only kosher food on its flights and would not fly on the Jewish Sabbath.[10]


El Al's 1958 ad promoting non-stop transatlantic servicesAs the national carrier, the airline was involved in several covert operations. In the early 1950s, El Al airlifted over 160,000 immigrants to Israel from India, Iran, Iraq and Yemen as part of Operation Magic Carpet and Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.[6] In 1960, Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was captured and flown from Argentina to Israel on an El Al aircraft.[11] In 1955, after using unreliable and noisy Lockheed Constellations for several years, the airline purchased two Bristol Britannia aircraft. El Al was the second airline in the world to fly this plane, after the British Overseas Airways Corporation.

In 1958, El Al ran a newspaper advertisement in the US featuring a picture of a "shrunken" Atlantic Ocean ("Starting Dec. 23, the Atlantic Ocean will be 20% smaller") to promote its non-stop transatlantic flights.[12] This was a bold step: The airline industry had never used images of the ocean in its advertising because of the widespread public fear of airline crashes. The advertisement, which ran only once, proved effective. Within a year, El Al's sales tripled.[13]


[edit] Expansion in the 1960s
Despite the purchase of Britannias and inauguration of non-stop transatlantic flights, the airline remained unprofitable.[8] When Efraim Ben-Arzi took over the company in the late 1950s, the Britannias were replaced by de Havilland Comet 4, Boeing 707, and Douglas DC-8 jets. The first year that El Al turned a profit was 1960. That year, more than 50 percent of the passengers flying into Israel arrived on El Al flights.[8] On 15 June 1961, the airline set a world record for the longest non-stop commercial flight: An El Al Boeing 707 flew from Tel Aviv to New York, covering 5,760 miles in 9 hours and 33 minutes.[6] By this time, El Al was carrying 56,000 passengers a year - on a par with Qantas and ahead of established airlines like Loftleidir. In 1961, El Al ranked 35th in the world in the number of accumulated passenger-miles.[14] El Al's success continued into the late 1960s. In 1968, regular flights to Bucharest were inaugurated, and cargo flights began to Europe and the USA. The airline also established a catering subsidiary, Teshet Tourism and Aviation Services Ltd. All these ventures brought in an annual profit of $2 million that year.[8]


[edit] El Al as a target of hijacking and terrorism
In 1968, El Al experienced what would become the first of many acts of terrorism against the airline. On July 23, the first and only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft took place when a 707 carrying 10 crew and 38 passengers was taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The aircraft was en route from Rome, Italy, to Lod, Israel. The hijackers diverted it to Algiers. Bargaining with the hijackers went on for 40 days. Both the hijackers and the passengers, including 21 Israeli hostages, were eventually freed.[15] On December 26, two PFLP terrorists attacked an El Al aircraft at Athens Airport, killing an Israeli mechanic.[16] The IDF retaliated on December 29 with a nighttime raid on Lebanon's Beirut Airport airport, destroying 14 planes on the ground belonging to Middle East Airlines, Trans Mediterranean Airways and Lebanese International Airways.[17] On February 18, 1969, Palestinians attacked an El Al plane at Zurich Airport killing the copilot and injuring the pilot. One Palestinian attacker was killed and others were convicted but later released.[18] Between September and December 1969, bomb and grenade attacks occurred at El Al offices in Athens, Berlin, and Brussels.[18] This wave of violence culminated in the failed hijacking of an El Al Boeing 707 by Patrick Arguello and Leila Khaled on September 6, 1970, as part of the Dawson's Field hijackings.[19]


[edit] 1970s and 1980s

An El Al Boeing 707 at Zurich Airport in June 1982El Al acquired its first Boeing 747 in 1971. Many felt it was a risky purchase, given the high cost of the plane and fear of attacks, but El Al operations flourished, and the airline was highly regarded around the world despite a fleet of only twelve aircraft. Another 747 was delivered in 1973. This was the plane used to inaugurate nonstop service from Tel Aviv to New York. In the air for thirteen hours, and flying against prevailing winds, it was recorded as the longest commercial airplane flight in the world.[8]

In the mid-1970s, El Al began to schedule flights from airports outside of Israel that departed on Shabbat and landed in Israel when Shabbat was over. The religious parties in the government claimed that this was a violation of Jewish law and contrary to the agreement signed in the early days of the state, when El Al promised to refrain from flying on Shabbat. This dispute culminated in the fall of the Labor government. Elections were held, and the new prime minister, Menachem Begin, promised to abide by the agreement. Outraged, the secular community threatened to boycott the airline. In August 1982, El Al workers blocked Orthodox and Hassidic Jews from entering the airport.[10]

In 1977, El Al established a charter subsidiary then known as El Al Charter Services Ltd., but later renamed Sun D'Or International Airlines Ltd. Two years earlier, the airline had suffered its first losses since the late 1950s, largely a product of the global recession. The management was changed three times towards the end of the 1970s, until Itzhak Shander was named president. As the political situation in Iran deteriorated, El Al began to airlift Jews to Israel. All the airline's infrastructure in Iran was eventually torched and destroyed.[8] El Al flights to Cairo were inaugurated in April 1980, following the peace agreement with Egypt.[6] In late 1982, after a long period of labor disputes and strikes, El Al operations were suspended. The government appointed Amram Blum to run the company, which lost $123.3 million in the fiscal year ending April 1983.[8] The airline also sold its stake in Arkia at this time.[20]

Operations resumed in January 1983 under receivership. The government purchased two new Boeing 737 aircraft and announced plans to acquire four Boeing 767 jets at the cost of $200 million. Within four years, El-Al was profitable again.[8] It broke another record in May 1988 with a non-stop flight from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv, a journey of 7,000 miles in 13 hours and 41 minutes.[6] Flights to Poland and Yugoslavia were inaugurated in 1989.[8]


[edit] 1990s and early 2000s

El Al Boeing 747-200 such as that operated in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990sIn January 1990, North American Airlines began flying to Israel, in part to provide feeder services to El Al gateways in North America. El Al held a 24.9% stake in the airline until selling it back to Dan McKinnon in July 2003. By this time, El Al was operating a fleet of 20 aircraft, including nine Boeing 747s, and had begun replacing its aging Boeing 707s with the Boeing 757. Early that year, El Al inaugurated regular flights to Moscow following the collapse of the Soviet Union. No airlifts were possible at this time, but permission was granted in 1991. Charter flights commenced in August 1991, with immigrants also occupying all available seats on El Al's scheduled routes. In cooperation with Aeroflot, El Al flew more than 400,000 Jewish immigrants to Israel within a three year period.[8][21]

On 24 May 1991 an El Al Boeing 747 airlifted a record-breaking 1,087 Ethiopian Jews flying from Addis Ababa to Israel in the framework of Operation Solomon.[22] Flights were inaugurated to the Far East, and in 1995, El Al signed its first code-sharing agreement with American Airlines.[8] In February 1995, the technical receivership under which the airline had been operating since 1982 came to an end.[23] In June 1996, El Al recorded another milestone: its first flight from Israel to Amman, Jordan.[6]


Ethiopian Jews boarding El Al aircraft during Operation Solomon$83.1 million in losses were recorded that year, due to the resumption of terrorism and the government's open-skies policy.[8] In order to keep its planes flying during this difficult period, El Al introduced flights "to nowhere": Passengers were offered various kinds of in-flight entertainment as the plane circled the Mediterranean. One-day shopping trips to London and visits to newly opened religious sites in eastern Europe were also promoted.[8]

In 1997, El Al opened a separate cargo division.[24] El Al's first Boeing 777 embarked on its maiden flight in March 2000. Later that year, the controversy over flights on Shabbat erupted again, when the airline announced that it was losing $55 million a year by grounding its planes on Saturdays. After the first phase of the long-delayed privatization of the company commenced in June 2003, and 15% of El Al's shares were listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, the policy regarding Sabbath flights was expected to change.[6][10]

In 2004, Knafaim-Arkia Holdings, the parent company of Arkia Israel Airlines acquired a large stake in Arkia and intended to seek full ownership.[6][10] However, due to Israeli anti-trust laws, Knafaim-Arkia was forced to sell its shares.[25] As of March 2007, El Al's major shareholders are Knafaim Holdings (42%), the State of Israel (13%) and the Employee Union (8%).[1]


[edit] El Al today

New El Al Boeing 777 airplane is welcomed with flowers after landing at Ben Gurion airport on 26 July 2007. El Al named the new B777 airplane 'Sderot' after the southern Israeli town that is been frequently attacked by Palestinian militants using "Qassam" rockets. Photo by: Eddie GeraldAs of 2007 the company employs 5,417 staff globally and has a fleet of over 30 aircraft.[26] During 2005 the airline has transported 3.5 million passengers, a rise from 3.2 million in 2004 and 2.8 million in 2003.[27] In 2006, El Al posted a $44.6 million dollar loss on revenues of $1.665 billion.[28] The company is currently facing four lawsuits, two of which have been approved as class actions, that could potentially cost the company a total of $176.2 million.[29] El Al spends $100 million a year to conform with the airline security measures required by Israel's Shin Bet security service.[30] In early 2007, El Al opened a new King David Lounge at Charles de Gaulle Airport. New lounges at Heathrow Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport are expected to open in late 2007.[31]


[edit] Religious controversy

Ultra Orthodox Jews inside new El Al boeing 777 airplane. 26 July 2007. Photo by: Eddie Gerald
El Al caters to the needs of religious Jewish passengers flying to and from Israel by serving only kosher food (under rabbinical supervision; glatt kosher food is also available on request). On long-haul flights, passenger-led prayer services are held at the back of the plane. El Al does not fly on Shabbat, despite the financial losses that this entails. An estimated 20-30% of the passengers are ultra-Orthodox. This sector tends to fly during specific seasons of the year (before and after Jewish holidays), and has certain preferred destinations, such as New York and Toronto. Operating on Shabbat could result in a Haredi boycott that would pose a major financial blow and cripple the airline. [32] After an airport strike in November 2006, El Al allowed some planes to take off on Shabbat to reduce the backlog. The Haredi community responded with an immediate boycott.[33] On 5 January 2007, El Al signed an agreement with this community that it would not fly on Shabbat.[34]


[edit] Accidents and security incidents

Cockpit control space of the New El Al Boeing 777 jetliner. 26 July 2007. Photo by: Eddie GeraldOn 5 February 1950, one of El Al's DC-4s was damaged when it veered off the runway during takeoff in Tel Aviv. There were no casualties. [35]
On 24 November 1951, a DC-4 on a cargo flight from Tel Aviv to Amsterdam crashed on approach to Zürich Airport, killing 6 crew members.[36]
On 27 July 1955, El Al Flight 402, a Lockheed Constellation was shot down over Bulgaria after it strayed into Bulgarian airspace. All 58 passengers and crew were killed.[37][38]
In February 1970, an El Al plane was attacked at Munich Airport, killing one and injuring eight. The attackers were caught but released.[18]
Another terrorist attack was foiled on 18 April 1986. A pregnant Irishwoman named Anne Mary 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 fiancé Nezar Hindawi who was booked on a different flight. Hindawi was jailed for 45 years, the longest sentence ever delivered by a British court.[39] There was evidence that Syrian officials were involved and as a result, Britain cut off diplomatic relations with Syria.[40]
On 27 December 1985, after several attempts at direct attacks on El Al aircraft failed, guerrillas of the Fatah Revolutionary Council attacked El Al counters at Rome and Vienna airports, killing 19 people.[16]
On 4 October 1992, El Al Flight 1862, a Boeing 747-200F cargo plane crashed into the Groeneveen and Klein-Kluitberg flats in Bijlmermeer, a neighborhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The three crew members, one passenger, and 39 on the ground were killed.[41]
On 4 July 2002, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet shot six Israelis at El Al's ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport, before he was shot and killed by an El Al security guard.[42] Two of the victims died. Although not linked to any terrorist group, Hadayet, an Egyptian, espoused anti-Israeli views and was opposed to U.S. policy in the Middle East.[43] This led the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to classify the shooting as a terrorist act, one of the few on U.S. soil since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
On 23 October 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 Royal Canadian Mounted Police tactical teams were ready. The diversion was the result of a "grave security threat," possibly a planned surface-to-air missile attack on the aircraft upon landing in Toronto.[44]
In 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 in December 2005.[45] 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.

[edit] El Al security

New El Al Boeing 777 airplane soon after landing at Ben Gurion airport on 26 July 2007. Unconfirmed sources report that EL AL airlines installed anti-missile systems called "Flight Guard" on all its passenger aircrafts, becoming the first commercial carrier in the world to use such a system. Photo by: Eddie GeraldAs a target of terrorism for many decades, El Al employs stringent security procedures, both on the ground and aboard its aircraft. These effective, though sometimes controversial, procedures have won El Al the reputation of being the most secure airline in the world.[46]


[edit] Airport security measures
Passengers are asked to report three hours before departure. All El Al terminals around the world are closely monitored for security. There are plainclothes agents and fully armed police or military personnel who patrol the premises for explosives, suspicious behavior, and other threats. Inside the terminal, passengers and their baggage are checked by a trained team. El Al security procedures require that all passengers be interviewed individually prior to boarding, allowing El Al staff to identify possible security threats. Passengers will be asked questions about where they are coming from, the reason for their trip, their job or occupation, and whether they have packed their bags themselves. The likelihood of potential terrorists remaining calm under such questioning is believed to be low (see also Microexpression).[47] At the check-in counter, the passenger's passport and ticket are closely examined. A ticket without a sticker from the security checkers will not be accepted. At passport control, the person's name is passed through computer checks utilizing information from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Scotland Yard, Shin Bet and Interpol databases. Luggage is screened and sometimes hand searched. In addition, bags are put through a decompression chamber simulating pressures during flight that could trigger explosives.[48] El Al is the only airline in the world that passes all luggage through such a chamber.[49] Even at overseas airports, El Al security agents conduct all luggage searches personally, even if they are supervised by government or private security firms.[50]


[edit] Flight security measures
Undercover agents (sometimes referred to as sky marshals) carrying concealed firearms sit amongst the passengers on every international El Al flight.[51] Most El Al pilots are former Israeli Air Force fighter pilots, and all El Al flight crew members are trained in hand-to-hand combat. Most El Al employees, male and female, have served in the Israel Defense Force, as Israeli citizens are drafted at the age of 18. [52]


El Al Boeing 777The cockpits in all El Al aircraft have double doors to prevent entry by unauthorized persons. A code is required to access the doors, and the second door will only be opened after the first has closed and the person has been identified by the Captain or First Officer.[52] Furthermore, there are reinforced steel floors separating the passenger cabin from the baggage hold.[53] This is intended to strengthen the plane in case of an explosion. The El Al fleet is also the only commercial airline fleet in the world to be equipped with anti-missile countermeasures, utilizing the radar-based Flight Guard system.[4] Switzerland and other European countries have expressed concern that flares dropped by this automated system could cause fires in the vicinity of the airport.[54] El Al does not divulge information about these systems.


[edit] Security controversy and passenger profiling
According to a report published by the Center Against Racism and the Arab Association for Human Rights in December 2006, during El Al security checks passengers are racially profiled.[55] The report goes further to claim that this is unfair, irrational, and degrading to those undergoing the stringent screening procedures.

On the other hand, there are those, such as the political analyst Daniel Pipes, who do not consider the policy of passenger profiling to be racist. According to Pipes, "however distasteful, there must be special scrutiny of Muslims in the West for security purposes."[56]

The airline was also criticised by the Hungarian courts for refusing to search luggage with the passenger present, acting against Hungarian domestic laws which stipulate that only authorized officials are able to undertake such searches.[55]

Stringent security measures have ensured that no El Al aircraft has been successfully hijacked since 1968. Most recently, on November 17, 2002, Tawfiq Fukra, a twenty-three-year-old Israeli Arab, attempted to hijack an El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Turkey. He was reportedly armed with a pocket knife and attempted to break into the cockpit in order to fly the aircraft back to Israel and crash it into a building, but was apprehended by on-board security personnel.[57] Fukra has denied the charges.[58] [59] El Al's security protocol has proven highly effective and is now a model for airlines around the world.[60]