After COVID, El Al is ready to soar high. Here is how

In 1948, then-Israel president Chaim Weizmann needed a flight back from Geneva and could not find an appropriate solution. Israel’s flag carrier El Al was established to bring him home.

Since that moment, El Al has been part of every milestone the country went through and it is now ready to take its mission to the next level, said Sharon Brownstone, general counsel & strategic partnerships at

EL AL Israel Airlines.

“El Al has been involved in all of the major historical events of the State of Israel,” she said during The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York on Monday.

“We brought to Israel hundreds of thousands of immigrants from all over the world,” she added. “We organized rescue flights to help stranded Israelis. We continued to operate during military emergencies, when every other airline refused to land or depart from Israel.”

Recently, El Al presented its new strategic plans for the next five years.

“After the coronavirus pandemic, today the aviation industry is soaring high and for us at El Al, this is the time to take our service to the next level,” Brownstone said.

The strategic plan includes three main pillars.

“First of all, we aim to grow in our core business, with more flights and more passengers,” said Brownstone. “Our goal is to reach 7.5 million passengers in a year.”

El Al is also working on offering its passengers a better comprehensive touristic experience, with a partnership with Issta, one of the major tour operator companies in Israel.

Finally, the airline is renewing its fleet, adding more Dreamliners to replace the old 737s.

To add to the feeling of living at the beginning of a new era, for El Al the new possibility of flying over the skies of Gulf States, including

Saudi Arabia, has represented a crucial development.

“We had been waiting for it for many years,” Brownstone concluded. “We wanted to compete equally with all the other airlines. It was a very major milestone.”