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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 0015.PDF
rLIGHT International, 5 January 1967 17 by 20 per cent." With Britannias, El Al moved in one bound into what the Americans would call the "big league" and the British the "first division." The Britannias came at the end of 1957—late on delivery. Before the end of 1958, pure jets were operating the Atlantic routes. El Al could not afford to be squeezed back into the days of obsolescent equipment. It ordered three Boeing 707- 420s (El Al's version is the 458) and began operating in early 1961. In mid-1961 the world's then-longest non-stop service was started—between New York and Tel Aviv, 5,760 statute miles. The inaugural flight took only 9hr 35min. By 1962, with two new Boeing 720Bs, the last piston-engined aircraft were phased out. Next a 32OB was ordered, and deposits were paid on two American SSTs. The second era ends in early 1966 when the airline's presi- dent, Gen Ben-Arzi, moved on to become chairman of the board. The new president is Col Shlomo Lahat, a man of only 42 with a rip-roaring past that has included Columbia Uni- versity, the USAF Command and Staff College, and the British Army (1942-46). He was one of the founders of the Israel Air Force. Col Lahat joined El Al in 1960; his promotion to president marks the end of El Al's second era—and it begins a third. They say you can divide most problems into social, political and economic ones. In Israel, you cannot tell the difference. Linking them and camouflaging them is religion. El Al started as an ethnic carrier. Ten years ago 90 per cent of its pas- sengers were Jewish. As with Irish International, this "brand loyalty" has resulted in high load factors. For three reasons, however, religion has been something of a mixed blessing. First, religious observance restricts the use of EP Al aircraft to 306 days a year—flying on the Sabbath or on major festivals being severely limited. That does not help utilisation. Second, all food served on El Al is strictly kosher. This necessitates completely separate aircraft galleys for meat and dairy products, and special catering facilities at airports, tn this way, the price of catering is perhaps doubled. (El Al's ethnic position is not all milk and honey.) Engineering is done at Lod Airport in bays specially constructed for the aircraft types. The travelling platform seen here is noteworthy rather of political influence by a minority religious party in the coalition Government. El Al have a way of laughing at themselves. They launched a prestige advertising campaign extolling the virtues of the bagel, a very Jewish, but very ordinary, doughnut-shaped bread roll. This way they hope to have their bagel and eat it. More seriously, the airline also took the step of consulting Mr Paul Grossinger, an American cater- ing expert, on ways to make kosher food more attractive. Like Lufthansa and SAA, El Al have developed a special relationship with Boeing. Besides three 707-420s and two 72OBs, the fleet includes one 320B with another on order. For the near future, the airline sees a need for more capacity. Recently rejecting the DC-8-63, El Al will soon reach a decision on either the 747 or more 320Bs. The airline's summer traffic apparently justifies a jumbo-jet but at present the 747 will carry a full passenger load (with no freight, but with El Al reserves) only from New York to Rome. For either order, the Politics versus Economics Third, and perhaps most important, is the Arab question. In theory this is not a religious one; in practice it is, because the establishment of the Israel that the Arabs contest is, of course, primarily the result of Jewish persecution elsewhere. International politics are not the normal stuff of this journal-— but an understanding of El Al is impossible without reference to it. The Arab threat means many things to El Al. To the pilots, it means occasional downwind landings and take-offs at Lod Airport. You can put down from the east without overflying Jordan if you fly a careful pattern—but it is not usual practice and there certainly is no space for an ILS approach. To El Al's operations men, the Arab question means a denial of overflying rights. All of North Africa and most of the Middle East are "out of bounds"—resulting in severe re- routeing of El Al's Africa service, and a consequent rise in break-even load factor on this route from 43 to 85 per cent. To maintenance men at Lod Airport—and everyone else in El Al's headquarters there—there is the realisation that they are within artillery range of the Arabs, and that Lod Airport would be a prime target in time of war. Finally, the Arab threat must be some deterrent to tourists, though Israel's tourism expansion rate, of about 20 per cent a year, is still higher than the average. Success or failure for El Al can perhaps be seen to depend on the swing of a see-saw. On one side, there is the predictable support of Jewish passengers, on the other are the associated and inseparable religious and political problems. For the past eleven years, the see-saw has so convincingly swung to the side of profitability that El Al has begun to expand into non-Jewish markets, notably the European one. Today only about 65 per cent of the airline's passengers are Jewish. Problems have not lessened as a result. Kosher food is not always attractive to Gentiles. Further, Israelis today are as secular as anyone and religious observance by El Al might be thought the result not even of Israeli public opinion, but On the left is the president of El Al, Colonel Shlomo Lahat, and on the right is Mr Benjamin Davidai, vice-president operations Where the traffic lies. The width of the arrows is proportionat to the number of passengers. El Al's biggest expansion in recent years has been on the European route, but most revenue is derived from the US service
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