Edited by: TJVNews.com
As air travel sees a resurgence since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic that hindered all forms of public travel, it was recently reported by the simpleflying.com web site that Israel’s national carrier, El Al Israel Airlines may soon purchase another 787 Dreamliner to its all-Boeing fleet. On Saturday, the carrier extended an offer to purchase an additional Dreamliner built initially to fly for a different airline, according to the simpleflying.com report.
With business improving, El Al will buy the plane from Boeing equipped with two Rolls Royce Trent engines, according to a report on the Globes.co.il web site. It was originally manufactured or another customer, and will undergo adaptation for El Al. This will be El Al’s seventeenth Dreamliner and is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2024, as was reported by Globes.co.il.
El Al’s current Dreamliner fleet consists of twelve 787-9s and three 787-8s. Three of the 787-8s and four of the 787-9s were bought by El Al. The remaining eight Dreamliners are operated by El Al under dry leases, that is, without crews.
When the airline purchases the 787-9, the aircraft must be modified to fit the carrier’s stringent security requirements, as was reported by simpleflying.com. According to Travel Radar, El Al has been known to be the world’s most secure airline because it is the only carrier to contain an in-built missile system known as Flight Guard, the report stated.
Since the early 2000s, most aircraft in its fleet have been retrofitted with the unique system to defend against anti-aircraft missiles. Simpleflying.com reported that the carrier updated the Flight Guard technology in 2014 to incorporate the Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS), which detects a missile in its early stages of flight.
Globes.co.il reported that the parties have also agreed on a sum of credit that Boeing will extend to El Al for goods or services, and they have waived all claims against each other in connection with the late delivery of the sixteenth Dreamliner. El Al says that, under the two agreements, the sixteenth and seventeenth Dreamliners will cost some $230 million altogether, as was reported by Globes.co.il
El Al is examining several possibilities for financing the purchase of the two new aircraft, as was reported by Globes.co.il. The airline says that the Dreamliners will enable it to develop its route network and to fly to more distant destinations, among them Tokyo and other destinations in the Far East and more destinations in the US.
Globes reported that El Al CEO Dina Ben-Tal Ganancia said, “The purchase of the seventeenth Dreamliner and the expansion of the company’s fleet with new planes represents another significant milestone in El Al’s process of growth and renewal.”
El Al has a market cap of NIS 620 million, after a 7% rise in its share price since the beginning of 2022, according to the Globes.co.il report.
In related news, on December 12th, Globes.co.il reported that El Al controlling shareholder Kenny Rozenberg is looking to strengthen his hold on the carrier – an investment on which he has already lost 50% of his money.
Rozenberg recently approached El Al’s board of directors with the offer of converting the owner’s loan, which he has given the company, into equity, as was reported by Globes.col.il. Following the offer, the board has set up an independent committee to examine the proposal. According to El Al, no agreements have yet been formed between the parties, Globes reported.
