El Al Israel Airlines Ltd.'s (TASE: ELAL) fourth Dreamliner 787 aircraft yesterday landed in Israel. El Al has ordered 16 of the planes from Boeing. The new planes will gradually replace older planes in El Al's fleet of 43 planes. The new plane is called "Haifa."
El Al chairperson Eli Defes, Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, El Al CEO Gonen Usishkin, and El Al deputy chairperson Tami Borovich formed a reception committee for the plane's arrival at Ben Gurion Airport. The plane will replace a Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet that was grounded at the end of last summer. Jumbo jets are being removed from service all over the world, and El Al will have to conform to this trend. Jumbo jets are used by El Al for flights to Thailand, among other places, and both have a large capacity and require expensive maintenance.
The first-ever El Al Dreamliner took off for Hong Kong Saturday night, and will henceforth be included regularly in flights to this popular Far Eastern destination. Cathy Pacific uses the Airbus 350 model, the direct competitor of the Dreamliner, for its flights to Hong Kong.
El Al has made rejuvenation of its airfleet a goal in order to both benefit passengers and their flight experience and for efficiency purposes. The Dreamliner uses less fuel - a particularly important advantage, given the rising trend in global oil prices.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on March 5, 2018
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