El Al

This article is about the Israeli airline. For the place in the Golan formerly named EL AL, see Eliad, Golan Heights.
EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd.
IATA ICAO Call sign
LY ELY ELAL[1]
Founded1948; 76 years ago (1948)
HubsBen Gurion Airport
Frequent-flyer programMatmid Guest
Subsidiaries
Fleet size47[2]
Destinations49
Traded asTASE: ELAL
HeadquartersBen Gurion Airport, Israel
Key people
Employees3,027 full-time, 1,583 part-time[3]
Websitewww.elal.com

EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL, Hebrew: אל על נתיבי אוויר לישראל בע״מ),[4] trading as EL AL (Hebrew: אל על, "Upwards", "To the Skies", or "Skywards", stylized as ELעל‎ALאל‎; Arabic: إل-عال) is the flag carrier of Israel.[5][6] 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.

EL AL is the only commercial airline to equip its planes with missile defense systems to protect its planes against surface-to-air missiles,[citation needed] and is considered one of the world's most secure airlines, thanks to its stringent security procedures, both on the ground and on board its aircraft.[7][8] Although it has been the target of many attempted hijackings and terror attacks, only one El Al flight has ever been hijacked; that incident did not result in any fatalities.[9][10]

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 747) by Operation Solomon when 14,500 Jewish refugees were transported from Ethiopia in 1991.[11][12]

El Al offers only kosher in-flight meals, and does not fly passengers on the Jewish Shabbat or religious holidays.[13][14]

In 2012, El Al operated an all-Boeing fleet of 42 aircraft, flying over 4 million passengers, and employed a staff of 6,056 globally. The company's revenues for 2016 were $2.04 billion, with losses of $81 million, compared to a profit of $57 million in 2010.[15][16] In 2018, the company's revenue was $7.7 billion, with a net loss of $187.55 million.[17] 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 a private buyer purchased a controlling stake (42.85%) in September of that year, with the government purchasing any unwanted shares (15%).

  1. ^ "JO 7340.2J - Contractions - Including Change 1" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. pp. 3–1–33. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-11-15. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  2. ^ "Our Fleet". El Al. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  3. ^ "2022 ESG Report". El Al. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  4. ^ "TASE Site – Profile". Tase.co.il. 2010-01-07. Archived from the original on 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2014-07-18.
  5. ^ United States. "ELAL Israel Airlines LTD". Seabury APG. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  6. ^ "Flag carrier EL AL thrives despite high fuel costs and competition". Flightglobal. 11 February 2008. Archived from the original on 23 May 2014.
  7. ^ "EL AL named most secure airline". The Jerusalem Post. 2008-02-06. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
  8. ^ "El Al secure because it must be". CNN. 2002-07-05. Retrieved 2016-05-15.
  9. ^ Kohn, David (February 11, 2009). "The Safest Airline". CBSnews. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  10. ^ Walt, Vivienne (January 10, 2001). "Unfriendly skies are no match for El Al". USA Today. Retrieved April 29, 2007.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference ThinkQuest was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYTEthiopianJews was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Orme, William A. Jr. (March 5, 1999). "El Al at a Turning Point; A Mirror of Israel's Divisions Prepares to Go 49% Public". The New York Times. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
  14. ^ Wagner, Matthew (2006-12-06). "Another report of non-kosher food on El Al plane". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  15. ^ "El Al, Major financial and operational statistics for 2016" (PDF). El Al. March 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-02-06. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
  16. ^ "El Al, Major financial and operational statistics for 2011" (PDF). El Al. March 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-10-20. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
  17. ^ "El Al Israel Airlines Ltd". www.marketwatch.com. Retrieved 2020-05-05.