El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) has launched a start-up support program called Cockpit for Israeli start-ups in the field of aviation and tourism. The aim of the program is to expose the carrier to new technologies in its areas of endeavor and it plans hosting ten start-ups and providing them with tens of millions of dollars in investment funds and other benefits. El Al says that the start-ups joining the program will receive mentoring and support from El Al's professionals in aviation and tourism and enjoy access to the Israeli carrier's domestic and international business connections network.
The start-ups selected by El Al will be assisted by the carrier's systems in order to develop and try out their developments on a beta site. El Al will also provide seed financing, and commercial, technological and legal consultancy. The program will operate in collaboration with the Microsoft Israel Accelerator so that Cockpit participants will also benefit from Microsoft's benefits and guidance.
El Al's Cockpit program has already selected its first two participants. Shopnfly allows travelers to search for and implement duty-free price comparisons and purchase a range of goods at every stage of their journey and collect the products they have ordered at airport stores, on the plane or at the hotel they are staying at.
The second start-up is BidFlyer, which is an advanced public sales platform, which can be integrated into an airlines systems and provide a new channel for ticket sales at attractive prices.
El Al's start-up program joins the Labs 90 program for tourism start-ups launched in July 2014 by Israeli travel agent Daka 90, which is investing NIS 10 million in 3-5 start-ups each year for four years.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 3, 2015
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