El Al
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| El Al | ||
|---|---|---|
| IATA LY | ICAO ELY |
Callsign ELAL |
| Founded | 1948 | <tr><th colspan="2">Hubs</th><td>Ben Gurion Int'l Airport</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Frequent flyer program</th><td>Matmid</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Member lounge</th><td>King David Lounge</td></tr>|
| Fleet size | 41 + 2 on order | |
| Destinations | 43 | |
| Headquarters | Tel Aviv, Israel | |
| Key people | Haim Romano (CEO) | |
| Website: http://www.elal.co.il | ||
El Al Israel Airlines (אל על, Hebrew: Skyward) 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.
Contents |
[edit] 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. <ref>Europe objects to El Al's anti-missile shield. YNet News. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.</ref>
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.
| Airlines of Israel | Image:Flag of Israel (bordered).svg | |
|---|---|---|
[edit] Destinations
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El Al operates the following services (as of June 2006):
[edit] Domestic
- Eilat (international online connections only)
- Ovda (international online connections only)
- Tel Aviv (hub)
[edit] Africa
[edit] Asia
[edit] Europe
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Lithuania
- Vilnius (Vilnius International Airport) Seasonal
- Poland
- Kraków (John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice) (code-share only)
- Warsaw (Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport)
- Romania
- Russia
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
[edit] North America
- Canada
- Montreal (Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport) (occasional charters)
- Toronto (Toronto Pearson International Airport)
[edit] Cargo
- Almaty, Kazakhstan
- Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Liege, Belgium
- London, United Kingdom (Heathrow)
- Luxembourg, Luxembourg
- Mumbai, India
- Munich, Germany
- New York City, USA (JFK)
- Seoul, South Korea
- Shanghai, People's Republic of China
[edit] Security
El Al has the reputation for being the most secure airline in the world for the following reasons:
[edit] On the plane
Approximately six undercover agents (formerly two; exact numbers are never given for security purposes) accompany each international El Al flight, sitting amongst passengers with hidden firearms. 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. In fact, most El Al employees have served in the Israel Defense Force (since national service is compulsory in Israel for most citizens).
El Al airliners have double doors to keep passengers away from the pilots. A code is necessary to access the doors, the second door will only be opened after the first has closed and the person has been identified by the captain or copilot.
There are reinforced steel floors separating the passenger cabin from the baggage hold <ref>Flying under the eagle eyes of El Al's famed high security. New Zealand Herald. Retrieved on 2006-08-15.</ref>. This is intended to strengthen the plane in case of an explosion in the hold or vice versa.
The El Al fleet is also the only commercial airline fleet in the world to be equipped with anti-missile countermeasures (the radar-based Flight Guard system). Switzerland has refused El Al flights landing rights because of fears that flares dropped by such an automated system might cause fires on the ground near airports, and other European governments have expressed similar views. El Al does not comment about the specifications of these systems.
[edit] On the ground
Passengers are asked to report three hours before takeoff. In Israel, they are checked at a security barrier on the road to the terminal. All El Al terminals around the world are closely monitored by security agents in plain clothes, who patrol the premises for explosives, suspicious behavior, and other threats. Inside, passengers and their baggage are checked by a trained team. El Al security procedures also require that all passengers be interviewed individually prior to boarding, allowing El Al staff to identify possible security threats with probing questions, such as their origin, goal and occupation. The likelihood of potential terrorists maintaining their calmness under such inquisitive probing is considered low. 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 due to the overwhelming majority of attacks against Israeli targets carried out by Arab individuals in the past.
At the check-in counter, ground staff scrutinise the passport and the ticket. They won't accept a ticket without a sticker from the security checkers. Once through passport control, where the person's name is checked through a computer, which utilizes information from both the FBI and Scotland Yard terrorism databases, the person and their hand luggage go through rigorous screening, including hand searches. In addition, all luggage must pass through a decompression chamber; this simulates pressures during flight which may be triggers for explosives <ref>El Al Decompression Chamber. Simcoe Engineering Group Limited. Retrieved on 2006-07-18.</ref>. El Al is currently the only airline in the world that passes all luggage through such a chamber.
[edit] Incidents and accidents
Since implementing many of their most stringent security procedures in 1970, El Al has never fallen victim to a successful terrorist attack on board any of its aircraft over the past 35 years.
- 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 hijacking of an El Al plane. Three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked the plane which was enroute from Rome, Italy, to Lod, 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 authorities. 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 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 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.
- On July 4, 2002, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet shot six Israelis at El Al's ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Two of the victims died. Although the gunman was not linked to any terrorist group, Hadayet, an Egyptian, espoused anti-Israeli views and was opposed to U.S. policy in the Middle East.[1] This led the FBI to classify the 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.<ref>Israeli Flight Lands in Toronto. CBC News. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.</ref>
- 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.
[edit] Fleet
The all-Boeing El Al Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:
| Type | Number | Seats | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-700 | 2 | 104 (16B, 88Y) | 4X-EKD, 4X-EKE |
| Boeing 737-800 | 6 | 142 (16B,126Y) | 4X-EKA, 4X-EKB, 4X-EKC, 4X-EKI, 4X-EKO, 4X-EKP (EKO and EKP have winglets) |
| Boeing 747-200 | 4 | Freighters | 4X-AXF, 4X-AXK, 4X-AXL, 4X-AXM Used for cargo only |
| Boeing 747-400 | 4 | 408 (8F, 52B, 348Y) | 4X-ELA, 4X-ELB, 4X-ELC, 4X-ELD |
| Boeing 757-200 | 8 | 178 (16B, 162Y) | 4X-EBS, 4X-EBT, 4X-EBU, 4X-EBV (Four additional 757-200s are leased to other airlines: 4X-EBI and EBM are leased to Israir, and 4X-EBO and EBY are leased to Sun D'Or.) |
| Boeing 767-200 | 2 | 4X-EAA, 4X-EAB | |
| Boeing 767-200ER | 4 | 198 (24B, 174Y) | 4X-EAC, 4X-EAD, 4X-EAE, 4X-EAF |
| Boeing 767-300ER | 3 | 234 (24B, 210Y) | 4X-EAJ, 4X-EAP, 4X-EAR |
| Boeing 777-200ER | 4 (2 on order) | 283 (6F, 40B, 237Y) | 4X-ECA, 4X-ECB, 4X-ECC, 4X-ECD (4X-ECE will be delivered in July 2007, 4X-ECF will be delivered in August 2007) |
[edit] 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
[edit] References
<references/>
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Transportation in Israel | Image:Flag of Israel (bordered).svg |
|---|---|
| Roads in Israel: Highway 1 | Highway 2 | Highway 4 | Highway 5 | Highway 6 | Route 40 | Route 60 | Route 90 | Highway 443 | Ayalon Highway | Carmel Tunnels | Begin Expressway | |
| Bus: Egged | Dan | Kavim | Metrodan Beersheba | Metropoline | Nativ Express | Superbus | Connex | |
| Railways: Israel Railways | |
| Light Rails and Rapid Transits: Tel Aviv Subway | Jerusalem Light Rail | Carmelit | |
| Aviation Authorities and Companies: Israel Airports Authority | Ben Gurion International Airport | El Al | Arkia | Israir | |
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