See also: Sun d'Or for other destinations now flown by El Al on this charter company's behalf.
El Al was established by the Israeli government in November 1948 (1948-11).[1] Initially offering a weekly service between Tel Aviv and Paris in 1949,[2] the airline began flying to many European destinations the same year, with services to the United States and South Africa starting in 1951.[1] Following delivery of their first Boeing 707–420 in May 1961 (1961-05),[3] the carrier started flying scheduled New York City–Tel Aviv flights—the longest non-stop route flown by any airline at the time.[4]
El Al flies to 51 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America.
Following is a list of airports served by the carrier as part of its scheduled services.[5]
COVID-19 outbreak
On 30 January 2020, El Al suspended flights to Beijing because of the outbreak of COVID-19.[6]
In March 2020 the airline saw reduced demand and cancelled flights to Europe. El Al proposed in early March 2020 to lay off 1 in 6 of its 6,200 employees. Israel has discontinued the entry from some nations of all non-Israelis and mandated that Israelis who return from said nations put themselves into a self-imposed two week quarantine.[7]
Due to the special circumstances caused by the coronavirus outbreak, and the recommendations by the Ministry of Health (of Israel) to the public, we are compelled to make commercial adjustments to certain flights, although as part of this we are providing alternative options on other flights. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.
— El Al, 2 March 2020
On 11 March, El Al suspended 8 in 10 employees, and drastically reduced operations. The remaining employees, who include all pilots, will be paid 20% less.[8]
^"Brevities". Flight: 683. May 18, 1961. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved October 6, 2012. El Al took delivery of its first Boeing 707-420 in a formal ceremony at Boeing Field. Seattle, on May 7.
^"Brevities". Flight: 912. June 29, 1961. Archived from the original on May 19, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2012. An El Al Boeing 707 has inaugurated what is claimed to be the world's longest non-stop air service, between New York and Tel Aviv, with a flight of lOhr 20min.
^"El Al loses routes as Israel begins deregulation". Flightglobal.com. Flight International. May 20, 2002. Archived from the original on May 21, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2012. Ephraim Sne, the Israeli minister of transport, announced last week that Arkia, Israel's largest charter airline, will become the sole designated carrier on the route to Copenhagen. Meanwhile Israir, the country's second charter carrier, has been designated the sole Israeli carrier on the route to Riga, Latvia. A ministry of transport source says that the designation of the two private carriers on the ex-El Al routes, "is only the beginning".
^Casey, David (July 26, 2021). "Two Israeli carriers launch Morocco routes". www.routesonline.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2022. Israel's flag-carrier El Al began operations just a few hours later. Flight LY553 took off from TLV at 11.21 a.m. and touched down in RAK at 3.19 p.m.
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