El Al is the only commercial airline to equip its planes with missile defense systems to protect its planes against surface-to-air missiles, 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.
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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.
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From its earliest days, the operation of the airline in keeping with Jewish tradition has been a source of friction; when the Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion was forming his first coalition, the religious parties would not join unless Ben-Gurion promised that El Al would serve only kosher food on its flights and would not fly on the Jewish Sabbath.
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Later that year, El Al acquired Universal Airways, which was owned by South African Zionists.
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El Al was the second airline in the world to fly this plane, after the British Overseas Airways Corporation.
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In 1958, El Al ran a newspaper advertisement in the United States featuring a picture of a "shrunken" Atlantic Ocean to promote its non-stop transatlantic flights.
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In 1961, El Al ranked 35th in the world in accumulated passenger distance.
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In 1968, El Al experienced the first of many acts of terrorism that have been perpetrated against the airline.
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In 1977 El Al established a charter subsidiary, El Al Charter Services Ltd.
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El Al flights were inaugurated to the Far East and, in 1995, El Al signed its first codesharing agreement with American Airlines.
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In 2015, El Al introduced a requirement that female flight attendants wear high heels until passengers had been seated.
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In March 2020, El Al suspended operations due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
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El Al converted some of their Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplanes to serve as cargo flights to transport medical goods from China to Europe through Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.
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El Al offered some passenger flights to get stranded Israeli citizens home.
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El Al's headquarters are located on the grounds of Ben Gurion Airport in Central District, Israel, near Lod.
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El Al is facing four lawsuits, two of which have been approved as class actions, which could cost the company $176.
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El Al spends $100 million a year to conform with airline security measures required by Israel's Shin Bet security service.
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In early 2007, El Al opened a new King David Lounge at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.
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El Al uses the Amadeus CRS system for reservation, inventory, check-in and online bookings.
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El Al has a cargo branch, El Al Cargo, which became independent in 1997.
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El Al has Hebrew language voiceovers and Arabic language subtitles in its flight safety videos, which is followed by another video in English.
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Up was founded by its parent El Al to be used on some routes to Europe where it replaced El Al itself.
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All Up flights were operated by El Al, using El Al's call sign and codes with a four digit number.
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El Al said an inhibiting factor in the plan was Israeli authorities' protectiveness of El Al from competition.
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El Al planes have been fitted with anti-missile counter-measures since the early 2000s, with the initial system known as Flight Guard.
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Since the early 2000s, El Al has been the only commercial airline to fit its planes with systems to defend against anti-aircraft missiles.
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In 2014, El Al began to fit some of its planes that fly on more sensitive routes with an updated missile approach warning system that employs an infrared missile-tracking camera, an “infrared, ultra-violet, or radar missile-approach warning sensor to detect a missile launch in the very early stages of an attack” and a laser system to act as a counter-measure.
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The cockpits in all El Al aircraft have double doors to prevent entry by unauthorized persons.
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El Al said that it would not put a policy in place to handle situations where male Haredim refuse to sit next to female passengers, but would instead attempt to satisfy passengers involved in such incidents on a case-by-case basis.
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In February 2016, Renee Rabinowitz filed a successful lawsuit against El Al after being involved in an incident where an ultra-Orthodox man refused to sit next to her on a flight from Newark International Airport to Tel Aviv and the flight attendants asked her to move seats.
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El Al serves destinations on four continents in 31 countries with a well-developed European network including the transcontinental nation of Russia.
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El Al used to operate the following types of aircraft as well:.
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The El Al logo is part of the design, although it has been changed slightly since then.
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Over its history, El Al has been involved in the following incidents and accidents, involving both the aircraft actually operated by the airline and its outstations abroad.
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