El Al Israel Airlines Ltd.<!---Per the manual of style (MOS:ALLCAPS and MOS:TMRULES), "El Al" should not be in all-caps, but in normal capitalization.---> (), () trading as El Al (, "Upwards", "To the Skies", or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; <!--**This article should include the Arabic name of the company!** Because:
- Arabic was for many years an official language of Israel, and it still has special status
- El Al is a former Israeli government carrier, and therefore, this is relevant to the Israeli government
Thank you!!-->) is the flag carrier of the State of Israel. Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948, the airline has grown to serve almost 50 destinations, operating scheduled domestic and international services and cargo flights within Israel, and to Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, Africa, and the Far East, from its main base in Ben Gurion Airport.
Although it has been the target of many attempted hijackings and terror attacks, there has only been one El Al flight hijacking in history, which ended without any loss of life. As Israel's national airline, El Al has played an important role in humanitarian rescue efforts, airlifting Jews from other countries to Israel, setting the world record for the most passengers on a commercial aircraft (single plane record of 1,088 passengers on a Boeing 747) by Operation Solomon when 14,500 Jewish refugees were transported from Ethiopia in 1991. In 2018, the company's revenue was $7.7 billion, with a net loss of $187.55 million. In July 2020, having lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to grounded flights and lay-offs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel and abroad, the company reached a bailout deal with the government, and Eli Rozenberg, who purchased a controlling stake (42.85%) in September of that year, with the government purchasing any unwanted shares (15%). El Al offers only kosher in-flight meals, and does not fly passengers on the Jewish Shabbat or religious holidays.
History
1948–1949: Foundation
thumb|[[Chaim Weizmann disembarks from an El Al Douglas DC-4 (September 1948)]]
thumb|El Al [[Lockheed Constellation (1951)]]
In September 1948, Israel's first president, Chaim Weizmann, attended a conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Weizmann was scheduled to fly back to Israel in an Israeli government aircraft, but due to an embargo imposed on Israel at the time, an Israeli C-54 military transport aircraft was instead converted into a civilian plane to transport Weizmann home. The aircraft was painted with the logo of the "El Al/Israel National Aviation Company" and fitted with extra fuel tanks to enable a non-stop flight from Geneva to Israel. It departed from Ekron Air Base on 28 September and returned to Israel the next day. After the flight, the aircraft was repainted and returned to military use.
The airline was incorporated and became Israel's national flag carrier on 15 November 1948, although it used leased aircraft until February 1949, when two unpressurized DC-4s were purchased from American Airlines. The acquisition was funded by the government of Israel, the Jewish Agency, and other Jewish organizations. The first plane arrived at Lod Airport (later renamed Ben Gurion) on 3 April 1949. Aryeh Pincus, a lawyer from South Africa, was elected head of the company. The first international flight, from Tel Aviv to Paris, with refueling in Rome, took place on 31 July 1949. By the end of 1949, the airline had flown passengers to London and Johannesburg. A state-run domestic airline, Israel Inland Airlines, was founded in 1949 in which El Al had a 50% stake. El Al was named by David Remez, the first Minister of Transport, based on Hosea 11: "They call El Al (upwards)."
1950s: Adding cargo service and destinations
thumb|right|A Curtiss Commando freight aircraft of El Al
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.
El Al's cargo service was inaugurated in 1950 and initially relied on military surplus Curtiss C-46 Commando aircraft. The same aircraft type was used also for passengers transportation in certain routes. The same year, the airline initiated charter services to the United States, followed by scheduled flights soon after. In 1960, Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was captured and flown from Argentina to Israel on an El Al aircraft.
In 1955, after using 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 United States 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. 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.
thumb|1951 British mechanic's residence permit for Israel – El Al worker
thumb|A 1951 El Al pilot's early Israeli passport
1960s: Turning profitable
thumb|left|El Al [[Boeing 720 being serviced at London Heathrow Airport (1964)]]
Despite the purchase of its Britannia and the inauguration of non-stop transatlantic flights, the airline remained unprofitable. 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 United States. The airline also established a catering subsidiary, Teshet Tourism, and Aviation Services Ltd. All these ventures brought in a profit of $2 million that year. On 26 December of the same year, two PFLP members attacked an El Al aircraft at Athens International Airport, killing an Israeli mechanic. The military action was responsible for the demise of the LIA, which had most of its fleet destroyed.
On 18 February 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. Between September and December of that year, bomb and grenade attacks occurred at El Al offices in Athens, West Berlin, and Brussels. This wave of violence culminated in the failed hijacking of an El Al 707 by Patrick Arguello and Leila Khaled on 6 September 1970, as part of the Dawson's Field hijackings.
<!-- An attack on a bus containing El Al passengers at Munich airport by PFLP terrorist killing one passenger and wounding 11 on 10 February 1970. Please cite this before adding it -->
1970s: Going Boeing
thumb|El Al [[Boeing 707|Boeing 707-300B landing at Zurich Airport, Switzerland (1982)|left]]
thumb|El Al [[Boeing 767-200 on short final to London Heathrow Airport (1985)]]
El Al acquired its first Boeing 747 jet 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 after the purchase. Another Boeing 747 was delivered in 1973 and was used to start non-stop service from Tel Aviv to New York (El Al – Boeing 707s had flown eastward nonstop since around 1961).
EL AL passengers and passengers from other airlines were attacked at Lod Airport in 1972 in an attack known as the Lod Airport massacre.
In the mid 1970s, El Al began to schedule flights from airports outside of Israel that departed on the Jewish shabbat and landed in Israel after it had finished. However, the religious parties in the government were outraged by this change believing that it was a violation of Jewish law and contrary to the agreement signed in the early days of the state, in which El Al promised to refrain from flying on the Sabbath. In 1982, the newly re-elected prime minister Menachem Begin, brought before the Knesset a vote to ban Sabbath flights once again (it passed by a vote of 58 to 54). Outraged, the secular community threatened to boycott the airline. In August 1982, El Al workers blocked Orthodox and Hasidic Jews from entering the airport. In less than 36 hours, 14,500 Ethiopian Jews were flown to Israel. On 27 April 1994, El Al received its first Boeing 747-400.
El Al flights were inaugurated to the Far East and, in 1995, El Al signed its first codesharing agreement with American Airlines. In June 1996, El Al recorded its first flight from Israel to Amman, Jordan.
21st century
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 US$55 million a year by grounding its planes on Saturdays. After privatization of the company began in June 2003, the policy regarding Shabbat flights was expected to change.
In August 2010, El Al and JetBlue signed an agreement to provide connecting through tickets between Israel and 61 destinations in the United States from October 2010, via John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
In 2015, El Al introduced a requirement that female flight attendants wear high heels until passengers had been seated. The airline's workers' union stated that the requirement would endanger the health and safety of the flight attendants and instructed its members to ignore the rule. Later that year, the requirement was removed.
In August 2017, El Al made their inaugural flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Their first variant of the plane was the 787-9, but in late 2019, they took delivery of the 787-8. The inaugural service was from Tel Aviv to London and Paris, with the transatlantic inaugural flight from Tel Aviv to Newark. El Al introduced a Premium Economy Class to this aircraft, in a 2-3-2 configuration. They also launched an upgraded Business Class with "pods" in a 1-2-1 configuration. This was upgraded from the original 2-3-2 configuration of their Business Class on the 777-200. Their Economy Class now also featured large personal touch screen entertainment and WiFi. In Business Class, the seats go to a 90° flat bed, have personal service, large touchscreen personal entertainment screens, and storage.
In April 2018, the Israel Postal Company issued a stamp with different El Al planes commemorating the 70th anniversary of the airline.
In July 2019, El Al retired its sole freight aircraft, a Boeing 747-400F, ending its dedicated cargo flights. The airline plans to use charter services by other airlines for this purpose from now on.
In March 2020, El Al suspended operations due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Israeli government had announced that all foreign and Israeli passport holders would have to undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival into the country. El Al also converted some of their Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplanes to serve as cargo flights to transport medical goods from China to Europe through Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport. El Al also offered some passenger flights to get stranded Israeli citizens home. These flights went from Tel Aviv to Miami, New York, London, Paris, and more. They also offered two services to Australia during the pandemic. This was the first ever nonstop flight from Israel to Australia. El Al offered one flight from Tel Aviv to Perth and Tel Aviv to Melbourne.
On 1 July 2020, after returning substantial amounts of leased aircraft (and canceling current leases) the airline canceled all flights and suspended operations indefinitely. On 6 July, the company announced it had worked out a bailout deal with the government to make up the hundreds of millions of dollars it had lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel and abroad. The proposed deal would net the airline $250 million in government loans (with a guarantee for 75 percent of the loan in case of defaults) and an additional $150 million from its own sale of company shares which, if not sold, would be purchased by the government. The deal was approved by a Knesset committee. On 17 September, it was announced that Kanfei Nesharim, a company owned by 27-year-old Eli Rozenberg (son of US Centers Health Care nursing home chain founder Kenny Rozenberg), had bought a controlling 42.85% stake in the airline with a $107 million offer. Under the prior negotiated bailout deal, the Israeli government, which had committed to buying any unwanted shares as part of a rescue package, bought $34 million worth of shares, for a stake that equals roughly 15% of the company. The holdings of El Al's owners before the bailout, Knafaim Holdings, fell to 15.2% from 38%. The new management will seek to emphasize "punctuality" and work to upgrade food services across all classes.
On 17 April 2022, El Al started its first direct flight between the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv and Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Flight 5193 is operated by El Al subsidiary Sun d’Or.
In October 2023, following the need for the urgent return of reserve soldiers due to the start of the Gaza war, El Al gained halachic approval from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel to break a 40-year policy of not flying on Shabbat, with the last time it flew on a Sabbath being in 1982 during the First Lebanon War. They also flew on the Sabbath following the attacks on Israeli football supporters in November 2024.
2024 brought a record profit of $545 million to the company, as many competitors cancelled flights to Tel Aviv due to the Gaza war. Critics charged that El Al was engaged in price gouging, but El Al denied the charge, saying it capped its prices. El Al also blamed the rise in ticket prices on a global "shortage of aircraft, engines and parts and supply chain delays".
Company affairs and identity
thumb|120px|Flag of El Al
thumb|120px|Logo from 1960s
Headquarters
thumb|A small aircraft painted in El Al livery at Schneider Children's Medical Center in [[Petah Tikva]]
El Al's headquarters are located on the grounds of Ben Gurion Airport in Central District, Israel, near Lod. In 2022, El Al announced it would be moving its U.S. headquarters from New York to Miami.
Operations
thumb|right|El Al's current (as of 2025) safety video features mentalist [[Lior Suchard in a prominent role]]
During 2005, the airline transported 3.5 million passengers, a rise from 3.2 million in 2004 and 2.8 million in 2003. 60% of the airline's passengers are Israeli. In 2006, El Al posted a $44.6 million loss on revenues of $1.665 billion. The company is facing four lawsuits, two of which have been approved as class actions, which could cost the company $176.2 million. El Al spends $100 million a year to conform with airline security measures required by Israel's Shin Bet security service. In early 2007, El Al opened a new King David Lounge at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. New lounges at Heathrow Airport in London and JFK International Airport in New York had also opened in late 2007.
In 2007, El Al invested NIS 1 billion in the purchase of two new Boeing 777-200s that included an updated El Al decal. The aircraft are fitted with upgraded seats with adjustable headrests and legrests. Each seat is equipped with a touch-screen entertainment system. The first aircraft, named "Sderot", completed its maiden flight from New York to Tel Aviv on 26 July 2007. The second, "Kiryat Shmona", was delivered at the end of August 2007.
After the United States Federal Aviation Administration downgraded Israel's aviation safety rating to 2 in February 2009, an IATA member warned El Al, as well as competing airlines Arkia and Israir, that they may appear on the European blacklist of banned carriers. Giora Romm, head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel, responded to the claim, stating: "We are in close contact with the Europeans." He added: "I don't know what the fuss is about. The Europeans' e-mail is strange. We are doing everything we can to improve security." The European Union has yet to make an official statement on the matter. El Al uses the Amadeus CRS system for reservation, inventory, check-in and online bookings. In November 2012, the United States FAA restored Israel's category 1 rating.
El Al has a cargo branch, El Al Cargo, which became independent in 1997. As the national cargo airline of Israel, it operates between Tel Aviv, Liège, and New York, plus ad hoc worldwide charters with one Boeing 747-200F aircraft. Before 2001, when the Israeli air cargo market opened up to competition, El Al Cargo enjoyed a monopoly. Now, its main competition comes from Challenge Airlines IL. The company's revenues for 2023 were $2.503 billion, totaling profits of $263.7 million, compared to losses of $80.7 million in 2016 and a profit of $57 million in 2010.
El Al has Hebrew language voiceovers and Arabic language subtitles in its flight safety videos, which is followed by another video in English. In 2017, the safety video was presented by mentalist Lior Suchard.
During the period of Shabbat, El Al observes Jewish religious traditions by refraining from flight operations and occasionally diverting flights or refraining from takeoff if the scheduled arrival would occur on a Saturday. Exceptions to this practice are exceptionally rare, having only occurred twice in the airline's history: first during the First Lebanon War and later during the Gaza war, when flights operated on Shabbat due to exceptional circumstances.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!Year
!Operating revenues<br>(US$ m)
!Profit/loss after tax<br>(US$ m)
!Number of<br>passengers<br>(m)
!Passenger<br>load factor<br>(%)
!Cargo carried<br>(000s tonnes)
!Fleet
|-
|2017
|2,097
|5.7
|
|
|
|
|-
|2018
|623
|−531
|0.9
|69.2
|67.0
|45
|-
|2021
|857
|−413
|1.3
|68.5
|81.5
|45
|-
|2022
|1,985
|109
|4.0
|83.1
|67.2
|45
|-
|2023 Since then, Sun d'Or no longer operates own aircraft but utilizes planes from its parent, El Al.
Superstar Holidays
Superstar (a company fully owned by El Al) is a tourist wholesaler that markets tourist package deals to travel agents and passengers, and sells airline tickets at discounted prices for flights on the company's routes.
Tamam
Tamam (a company fully owned by El Al) is mainly engaged in the production and supply of kosher ready meals to airline companies.
Former
Up
thumb|A former Up [[Boeing 737-800]]
On 26 November 2013, El Al unveiled its now-defunct low cost airline "Up", which commenced operations on 30 March 2014, initially to Berlin, Budapest, Kyiv, Larnaca and Prague
In August 2014, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary foreshadowed the development of a Ryanair Israel, connecting Israel with cities across Europe. He said an inhibiting factor in the plan was Israeli authorities' protectiveness of El Al from competition. The CEO of Up wished to recreate the airline business world. Ryanair started serving Ovda Airport and Ben Gurion Airport in the winter season 2017-18 from several airports throughout Europe.
Up ceased operations on 14 October 2018. All of its six destinations and fleet were reintegrated into mainline El Al operations.
Security
Israel's airport security measures were instituted in 1968 after the El Al Flight 426 hijacking by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It was the first aviation attack motivated by political aims.
El Al employs stringent security procedures, both on the ground and onboard its aircraft. These time-consuming procedures have won El Al's security reputation.
Onboard missile defense systems
Certain El Al planes have been fitted with counter-measures against anti-aircraft missiles since the early 2000s, with the initial system known as Flight Guard. In 2014, El Al began to fit some of its planes that fly on more sensitive routes with an updated missile approach warning system (MAWS) that employs an infrared missile-tracking camera, an "infrared (IR), ultra-violet (UV), or radar missile-approach warning sensor to detect a missile launch in the very early stages of an attack" and a laser system to act as a counter-measure. In November 2014, under the Israeli government's SkyShield programme, Elbit's Commercial Multi-Spectral Infrared Countermeasures (C-MUSIC) system was adopted by El Al.
Airport security measures
There are four layers of airport security procedures in Israel: early detection outside the airport zone, airport access control, passenger and baggage screening, and on-board security. In the first layer, El Al Staff screen passenger lists before passengers' arrival at the airport. At the check-in counter, passengers' passports and tickets are closely examined. A passport without a sticker from the security checkers will not be accepted. At passport control, passengers' names are checked against information from the 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. Even at overseas airports, El Al security agents conduct all luggage searches personally, even if they are supervised by government or private security firms.
Flight security measures
Undercover agents (sometimes referred to as sky marshals) carrying concealed firearms sit among the passengers on every international El Al flight. Most El Al pilots are former Israeli Air Force pilots. The 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 open only after the first has closed and the person has been identified by the captain or first officer.
In April 2013, the Israeli government increased payments to El Al to secure 97.5% of the airline's security costs ahead of the Open Skies agreement to take effect in 2014 with the European Union.
Controversies
Security controversy and passenger profiling
The airline was criticized by Hungarian courts for refusing to search luggage with the passenger present, acting against Hungarian domestic laws stipulating that only authorized officials are able to undertake such searches.
In 2008, a civil case was brought to the Supreme Court of Israel by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which alleged that El Al's practice of ethnic profiling illegally singled out Arab passengers for tougher treatment. The group had petitioned "for the complete elimination of racial profiling" by the airline. In 2015, the court dismissed the petition on procedural grounds, accepting in part the government's argument "that it could not completely change without heavily burdening all travelers," but reimbursing the Association for Civil Rights in Israel a total of NIS 30,000 for its legal fees, and finding that the petition "had already gotten security to be less discriminatory".
Following the incidents, Iris Richman, founder of Jewish Voices Together, a group created to address issues of religious pluralism in Israel and the U.S., encouraged passengers to protest this behavior through the US government, referencing "49 U.S. Code § 40127 – Prohibitions on discrimination: Persons in Air Transportation". According to this directive, she wrote, "An air carrier or foreign air carrier may not subject a person in air transportation to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or ancestry." Richman contacted the U.S. Department of Transportation, Aviation Consumer Protection Division, and stated the department "is willing to investigate any situation where any employee of a carrier – i. e., a steward/ess – participated in asking someone to change a seat because of their gender".
In November 2014, Tova Ross, in The Forward, disagreed that this is discrimination against women. She wrote, <blockquote>If we [women] want the right to pray and practice and dress in the ways we see fit, why do we cast such caustic aspersions on the premise of a man who calmly asks to change his seat in order for him not to stray from his preferred religious outlook? ... A favor for a fellow human being, no matter how archaic we may deem his beliefs. We are indulging a request that we may neither understand nor agree with, but if it doesn't really put us out, if the flight isn't full, and there is in fact someone who will easily volunteer to switch seats, then what is everyone's colossal problem with the mere premise?</blockquote>
El Al said that it would not put a policy in place to handle situations where male Haredim refuse to sit next to female passengers, but would instead attempt to satisfy passengers involved in such incidents on a case-by-case basis.
In February 2016, Renee Rabinowitz filed a successful lawsuit against El Al, after being involved in an incident where an ultra-Orthodox man refused to sit next to her on a flight from Newark International Airport to Tel Aviv and the flight attendants asked her to move seats. Later in 2018, the airline decided to immediately remove any passengers who refuse to sit next to a woman.
Continued operation of flights to Russia
Despite the international sanctions imposed on Russia due to its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, El Al continues to operate flights to and from Russia. This decision, which was carried out at the request of the Israeli government to enable Russian Jews to travel to Israel, has drawn criticism for indirectly supporting Russia's economy during its military aggression in Ukraine.
Destinations
thumb|[[El Al destinations as of December 2024 ]]
El Al serves destinations on four continents in 31 countries with a well-developed European network including the transcontinental nation of Russia. The airline serves a number of gateway cities in North America such as New York–JFK, Newark, Miami, Los Angeles, and Boston. They have also expanded their service to Asia such as Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Mumbai, Beijing–Capital, and Hong Kong. From its founding until 2020, El Al's inability to overfly Saudi Arabian airspace, along with that of several other Arab and Muslim countries, has reduced their ability to further expand their route network in Asia. In 2018, Saudi Arabia granted permission to Air India to fly a five times weekly flight from Tel Aviv to New Delhi using Saudi Arabian airspace. If Saudi Arabia did not allow El Al to use their airspace, El Al might have lost a large share of their Asian market due to other airlines having shorter and cheaper flights. However, Saudi Arabia opened their airspace to Israeli aircraft for the first time in September 2020. El Al also offers services to Johannesburg in South Africa and Zanzibar.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, the airline had plans to perform experimental direct flights between Tel Aviv and Melbourne. The service would have been the airline's longest-ever direct flight and the first direct connection between Israel and Australia.
In June 2022, the airline announced that it would permanently terminate flights from Toronto–Pearson effective October 27, 2022. The decision ended an over-40-year presence in Canada. In response, a petition was launched on Change.org to try and reverse the decision. El Al also announced that it was cancelling its routes to Brussels Airport and Warsaw Chopin Airport.
In December 2022, the airline started to sell tickets to its highly anticipated route of Ben Gurion Airport to Tokyo-Narita Airport, which was inaugurated on March 2, 2023. The route was originally planned to launch in March 2020, but due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the route was delayed until further notice.
On 14 March 2023, El Al and the Victoria state government signed a letter of intent, in which El Al intents to inaugurate direct flights to Melbourne Airport in Melbourne, Australia. While there is no exact date for the beginning of these flights, the letter of intent stated that these flights should begin by June 2024. These flights will be operated by the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and are expected to add 44,000 seats on flights to Melbourne per year. These flights will take 15 hours eastbound (Israel to Australia) and 17 hours westbound (Australia to Israel).
On 26 October 2023, El Al said it will cancel its seasonal routes (Dublin, Marseille, Tokyo) which were due to terminate in the October–November early due to the Gaza war and will delay the launch of its planned New Delhi and Mumbai routes until further notice. El Al said it plans to resume their seasonal routes in April 2024. One of the oldest El Al routes, the flights to Johannesburg, South Africa, was terminated in March 2024.
On 20 April 2026, El Al announced the launch of its longest scheduled route to date, connecting Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV) in Israel to Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport (EZE) in Argentina. The new service is planned to start in November 2026 and will be operated twice weekly with Boeing 787-9 aircraft. Tickets will go on sale from May 2026.
Codeshare agreements
El Al codeshares with the following airlines:
- Aerolíneas Argentinas
- Aeroméxico
- Air China
- Air France
- Air Serbia
- Azerbaijan Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Ethiopian Airlines
- Etihad Airways
- Gulf Air
- Hong Kong Airlines
- Iberia
- JetBlue
- Kenya Airways
- KLM
- LATAM Brasil
- LOT Polish Airlines
- Porter Airlines
- Qantas
- Scandinavian Airlines
- Swiss International Air Lines
- TAP Air Portugal
- Thai Airways International
- TAROM
- Vietnam Airlines
- Virgin Atlantic
Fleet
thumb|El Al [[Boeing 737-800]]
thumb|El Al [[Boeing 777|Boeing 777-200ER]]
thumb|El Al [[Boeing 787-9 wearing a 1960s retro livery]]
Current fleet
, El Al operates an all-Boeing fleet composed of the following aircraft:
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em auto;text-align:center"
|+ El Al fleet
|-
! rowspan="2" | Aircraft
! rowspan="2" | In service<br>
! rowspan="2" | Orders
! colspan="5" | Passengers
! rowspan="2" | Notes
|-
! <abbr title="First Class">F</abbr><!---Although the First class soft product has been discontinued, 777s which haven't been retrofitted with the new cabin still have first class seats.--->
! <abbr title="Business Class">J</abbr>
! <abbr title="Premium Economy Class">W</abbr>
! <abbr title="Economy Class">Y</abbr>
! Total
|-
|rowspan="2"|Boeing 737-800
|14
|rowspan="2"|—
|rowspan="2"|—
|16
|rowspan="2"|—
|150
|166
|To be retired and replaced by Boeing 737 MAX.
|-
|4
|—
|189
|189
|Operated by Sun d'Or.
|-
|
|8
|—
|—
|16
|—
|159
|175
|
|-
|Boeing 737 MAX
|—
|20
| colspan="5" |<abbr title="To Be Announced">TBA</abbr>
|Order with 11 options.<br />Deliveries from 2028.<br />To replace Boeing 737-800.
|-
|3
|6
|35
|—
|238
|279
|Original configuration.<br />First class discontinued; former dedicated seats now used as Business class.
|-
|Boeing 787-8
|4
|—
|—
|20
|35
|183
|238
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|Boeing 787-9
|12
|rowspan="2"|7
|rowspan="2"|—
|32
|35
|204
|271
|Order with 6 options.<br />Converted 6 purchase rights to firm order.
|-
|1
|30
|—
|263
|293
|Taken from an Air China order, retaining its interior configuration.
|-
|Boeing 787-10
|—
|4
| colspan="5" |<abbr title="To Be Announced">TBA</abbr>
|Order converted from 787-9.
|-
! colspan="9" |El Al Cargo fleet
|-
|Boeing 737-800BCF
|1
|—
| colspan="5" |<abbr title="No seats, cargo configuration">Cargo</abbr>
|4X-EKZ.
|-
!Total
!46
!31
! colspan="6" |
|}
Former fleet
thumb|A former El Al [[Boeing 767-200ER. El Al was the launch customer for this variant of the Boeing 767.]]
thumb|A former El Al [[Boeing 747|Boeing 747-200B]]
El Al used to operate the following types of aircraft as well:
- Boeing 707
- Boeing 720
- Boeing 737-200
- Boeing 737-700
- Boeing 747-100
- Boeing 747-200
- Boeing 747-300
- Boeing 747-400
- Boeing 747-400F
- Boeing 757-200
- Boeing 767-200ER
- Boeing 767-300ER
- Bristol Britannia
- Curtiss C-46 Commando
- Douglas DC-4
- Lockheed Constellation
- McDonnell Douglas MD-11
Livery
El Al's livery features a white background, with a blue stripe with a thick silver border on the bottom that sweeps across the side of the aircraft near the wing, disappears over the top of the plane and reappears at the bottom of the tailfin. The El Al logo is part of the design, although it has been changed slightly since its introduction in 1999. El Al's historic, superseded livery, which was designed by Dan Reisinger in conjunction with the introduction of the Boeing 747 to El Al's fleet in the 1970s, featured a turquoise/navy blue stripe down the side of the aircraft, and a turquoise tailfin with the flag of Israel at the top. El Al's logo was featured above the front run of windows on each side of the plane in the turquoise/navy scheme. Most of El Al's aircraft are named for Israeli cities, such as Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Beersheba, Haifa, and others. The larger the aircraft – the bigger or more populated the city it is named after. The cities' names are located near the nose of the plane beneath the cockpit windows. One aircraft, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, is painted in the livery that El Al used in the 1960s and 1970s as part of the airline's 70th year of operations, using a gray belly, white roof with El Al titles, a blue cheatline, and the flag of Israel on the vertical stabilizer that was introduced with the introduction of the Boeing 707 to the El Al fleet. Matmid points can be collected on most flights operated by South African Airways, Sun D'Or, Qantas and limited Aeroméxico, Delta, Virgin Atlantic, Air France, KLM and SAS flights.
Lounge
The King David Lounge is the name adopted by El Al for special airport lounges that serve the airline's premium class passengers. In 2007, there were six King David Lounges worldwide at the key airports at Ben Gurion International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Newark Liberty International Airport, Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, London Heathrow Airport and Los Angeles International Airport; by 2025, these were reduced to just one lounge at Ben Gurion airport, with El Al passengers in foreign airports having to use the lounges of other airlines (predominantly those in the SkyTeam alliance, such as Delta Air Lines, SAS and Virgin Atlantic). The King David Lounge offers drinks, snacks, newspapers and magazines, and free Wi-Fi internet access, and is equipped with a telephone, shower facilities and a spa; until the retirement of First Class in 2019, it also had a separate section for first-class passengers.
Cabin
thumb|Long-haul business class cabin on an El Al [[Boeing 787-8]]
thumb|Short-haul business class cabin on an El Al [[Boeing 737-900]]
El Al offers three types of classes on its planes:
- Business class – on all planes (type of business seat changes with type of aircraft).
- On the 787 and 777 (new cabin)<!---Only three out of six 777s have been retrofitted with the new cabin.---> – Business class is in a 1-2-1 configuration, featuring lie-flat seats in a staggered layout. Business class on the 777's new cabin has a seat pitch of 42-43" pitch, 80" bed length, and 21" width; on the 787, the dimensions are 42-43" pitch, 78" bed length, and 21" width.
- On the 777 (original cabin) – 777s which are yet to be retrofitted with the new cabin have a 2-3-2 business class configuration, with angled-flat seats having a seat pitch of 75-76" and 20" width, as well as a 2–2–2 first configuration, featuring lie-flat seats with a pitch of 79" and 21" wide. The latter seats originally operated a true first class; however, since El Al's first class was discontinued in 2019 (alongside the retirement of the 747 fleet), they operate as business class seats as well.
- On the 737 – Business class is in a 2-2 configuration, with recliner seats having a 42-44" pitch and 20.5" width. El Al's business class has dedicated seats (similarly to domestic first class in North America), as opposed to economy class seats with a blocked middle seat as common in short-haul business class in European airliners.
- Premium economy class – on the 787 and 777 (new cabin). On the 777's new cabin, Premium economy is in a 2-4-2 configuration, with a seat pitch of 38" and 20" width. On the 787, the seats are in a 2-3-2 configuration, with dimensions of 38" pitch and 18.5" width.
- Economy class – All planes. Economy class has a seat pitch of 31" (32" on the 737) and 17" seat width (18" on the original 777 cabin).
In-flight entertainment and Wi-Fi
Personal AVOD screens are provided on all Boeing 777-200ERs and Boeing 787s, which also have a Wi-Fi network enabling access to the Internet using Viasat technology. Internet access is only available on flights to Europe, North America, and the Middle East, due to coverage restrictions.
AVOD Streaming via a closed Wi-Fi network (i.e. without internet access) is provided on all Boeing 737s, where there are no personal AVOD screens.
Accidents and incidents
thumb|Monument for the [[El Al Flight 1862|Bijlmer disaster, Amsterdam of 4 October 1992. The monument was designed by architect Herman Hertzberger together with survivors.]]
Over its history, El Al has been involved in the following incidents and accidents, involving both the aircraft actually operated by the airline and its outstations abroad. Most of these incidents are motivated by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly Palestinian terrorism against the airline in the period between 1968 and 1990, and so incidents are separated by terrorist, politically-motivated non-terrorist, and non-politically-motivated incidents. Despite these attacks, El Al has not lost a passenger on any passenger flight since 1955.
Terrorist attacks and incidents
- On 23 July 1968, El Al Flight 426 hijacking, operated by a Boeing 707-458C en route from London to Tel Aviv via Rome, registered 4X-ATA, was hijacked by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) shortly after take-off from Rome-Fiumicino airport and forcibly diverted to Algiers. The hijacking ended after 40 days and is considered to be the only successful hijacking involving an El Al jet.
- On 18 February 1969, El Al Flight 432 attack, operated Boeing 720-058B, registered 4X-ABB, was attacked at Zurich Airport by members of the PFLP while taxiing for takeoff en route from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv, via a Zurich intermediate stop. Seven people were wounded including the copilot who later died from his wounds. In a firefight involving security personnel aboard the aircraft, one hijacker was killed, while the others were arrested. The hijackers were later put on trial in Winterthur, Switzerland but were released following the Dawson's Field hijackings one year later.
- On 6 September 1970, El Al Flight 219 from Tel Aviv to New York, with a stopover in Amsterdam, operated by a Boeing 707-458C registered 4X-ATB, was the target of an attempted hijacking by Leila Khaled and Patrick Argüello, members of the Sandinistas working in concert with the PLFP after taking off from Amsterdam. The hijacking was meant to be one of the Dawson's Field hijackings, but it was thwarted by the pilots, cabin crew and the on-board air marshals. The aircraft diverted to Heathrow Airport, where Argüello and Khaled were turned over to British authorities; Argüello, who was shot earlier, died en route to a hospital.
- On 16 August 1972, a bomb exploded in the luggage compartment of El Al Flight 444 shortly after takeoff from Rome. The plane returned to Rome safely and no casualties were recorded. The bomb had been hidden in the luggage of two British nationals who had the bombs placed there by Arab acquaintances.
- In January 1975, several men, including Carlos the Jackal, made unsuccessful attempts to destroy an El Al airliner parked at Paris Orly Airport.
- On 27 December 1985, guerrillas of the Fatah Revolutionary Council attacked El Al and TWA ticket counters at Rome and Vienna's airports, killing 18 people.
- A terrorist attack was foiled on 18 April 1986 in what became known as the Hindawi Affair. Anne-Marie Murphy was about to board an El Al flight at London's Heathrow airport when her bag was found to contain three pounds of plastic explosives. These had been planted by her fiancé Nezar Hindawi, who was booked on a different flight. Hindawi was jailed for 45 years. There was evidence that Syrian officials were involved and as a result, Britain cut off diplomatic relations with Syria.
- On 4 July 2002, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet shot six Israeli passengers at El Al's ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport before he was shot and killed by an El Al security guard. Two of the victims died. Although not linked to any terrorist group, Hadayet, an Egyptian, espoused anti-Israeli views and was opposed to US policy in the Middle East. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation classified the shooting as a terrorist act, one of the few on US soil since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
- On 17 November 2002, El Al Flight 581, a flight operated by a Boeing 767-258(ER) from Tel Aviv to Istanbul, registered 4X-EBS, was the scene of an attempted hijacking by Tawfiq Fukra. Fukra attempted to break into the cockpit in order to fly the aircraft back to Israel and crash it into a building. He was apprehended by on-board security personnel.
Politically-motivated incidents which are not terrorist attacks
- In February 2026, El Al Flight LY6 flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Tel Aviv was delayed after “Free Palestine” stickers were found attached to around 140 checked suitcases, prompting airline staff to remove the luggage and initiate individual security checks to rule out explosives before departure. The scheduled departure was delayed by nearly two hours and the flight eventually departed without the affected bags, which were later sent on subsequent flight.
Other accidents and incidents
- On 24 November 1951, a Douglas DC-4, registered 4X-ADN, on a cargo flight from Tel Aviv to Amsterdam via Zurich crashed on approach to Zürich, killing 6 crew members.
- On 27 July 1955, a Lockheed Constellation operating El Al Flight 402, registered 4X-AKC, was shot down by two Bulgarian Air Force fighter jets over Blagoevgrad, near Sofia, Bulgaria, after it strayed into Bulgarian airspace in rough weather. All 58 passengers and crew were killed.
- On 4 October 1992, El Al Flight 1862, a cargo flight from New York to Tel Aviv via Amsterdam, operated by a Boeing 747-258F cargo plane registered 4X-AXG, crashed into two highrise apartment buildings in Bijlmermeer, a neighborhood of Amsterdam, shortly after takeoff and while attempting to return to Amsterdam. The crash was caused by structural failure of the fuse pins on the #3 engine, causing that engine to detach from the aircraft, knocking off the #4 engine with it. The three crew members, one passenger in a jump seat, and 39 people on the ground were killed.
Notable employees
thumb|El Al flight attendant standing next to a [[Curtiss C-46 (1950)]]
Management
- Ephraim Ben-Artzi – commander of the Quartermasters Directorate, served as El Al CEO 1956–1967
- Mordechai Hod – commander of the Israeli Air Force during the 1967 Six-Day War, served as El Al CEO 1977–1979
- Eliezer Shkedi – former commander of the Israeli Air Force, served as El Al CEO 2010–2014
Pilots
- Pinchas Ben-Porat – Palmach member, one of Israel's first aviators
- Eliezer Cohen – politician
- Giora Epstein – Israeli Air Force pilot, flying ace
- Yoav Kish – politician
- Abie Nathan – humanitarian and peace activist
Flight attendants
- Gali Atari – singer and actress, winner of the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest
- Janna Gur – food writer, editor and cook book author
- Miki Haimovich – anchorwoman, television presenter
- Adir Miller – actor, screenwriter and comedian
- Sara Netanyahu – wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
- Alma Zack – actress
See also
- Transport in Israel