AVIATION
July 2023
EL AL WILL ADD TWO MORE DREAMLINER’S TO THE COMPANY’S FLEET The signing took place as part of the Paris Air Salon in which El Al senior officials took part
HAIFA AIRPORT RETURNS TO INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS
The first international flight took off this week from Haifa to Cyprus, after four years without international commercial flights
E l Al signed an agreement to lease 2 additional 787- 9 Dreamliner aircraft. The lease period will be 15 years for each plane, with the delivery dates of the planes being the third quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. The signing took place as part of the Paris Air Salon in which El Al senior officials took part. This is the realization of El Al’s 2017 agreement with AERCAP, which grants El Al the option to lease two 787 aircraft. Last month, El Al announced in the financial statements for the first quarter of 2023, that it extended the agreement in question and is now announcing the realization of the agreement. With the receipt of the aircraft, 19 Boeing 787 aircraft will operate in the company’s service (15 787 aircraft which are already operating in the company’s service and four more 787 aircraft expected to be
received between 2023-2026). In the original equipment program, El Al ordered 16 Dreamliner aircraft, 15 of which have already been delivered to the company and are in active service. The 16th model 787-8 aircraft, named “Nof HaGalil” is awaiting delivery to El Al in the US and is expected to be delivered in the third quarter of 2023. In addition, at the end of 2022, El Al signed with the aircraft manufacturer Boeing a proposal document for the purchase of a new Boeing 787 aircraft -9 equipped with two Rolls Royce engines. This is El Al’s Dreamliner number 17 and is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2024. The aircraft was originally manufactured for another customer whose identity has not been revealed.
A new flight line from Haifa to Larnaca and Paphos in Cyprus was launched this week at Haifa Airport. The line is operated by Air Malta narrow body jets, and is marketed by the companies Issta and Israir. At this point, three daily flights operated from the airport, two to Larnaca and one to Paphos. Minister of Transportation, Brigadier General Miri Regev: “Connecting the north and the south to the center of the country is for me a strategic social and economic goal of the highest order. I welcome the return to operation of the airport in Haifa, with the opening of a regular flight to Cyprus. There is no need for the residents of Haifa and the north to have to come to Israel for every short vacation or business trip. I call on more European airlines to operate direct routes to Haifa, for the benefit of the residents of the north as well as for tourists who wish to reach
the many tourist sites in the north of the country”. An airport in Haifa was established by the British in 1934 and was the first international airport in Israel. Over the years, international air activity moved to Lod Airport, later Ben Gurion Airport, but most of the time international flights were also made from Haifa, mainly to nearby destinations including Egypt, Jordan and especially Cyprus, which is only a 50-minute flight away. The activity in the field is limited due to the length of the runway, which currently does not allow the landing of large planes. Plans to extend the route are examined from time to time, but encounter difficulties due to the density and the many needs along the coastal strip in Haifa Bay, which includes leading civilian ports, a military port of the Navy, Israeli shipyards and more.
12 • www.itn.co.il
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online