A SURVEY OF EL AL AIRLINES IN WAR TIMES

By

Dr. Harold Goldmeier with assistance from Leora Cohen, Bella Katz, and Moriah Rosenthal.

Dr. Harold teaches at Touro College Jerusalem. He is an award-winning entrepreneur receiving the Governor's Award for family investment programs in the workplace from the Commission on the Status of Women. He was a Research and Teaching Fellow at Harvard.  Harold is a Managing Partner of an investment firm, a business management consultant, a free public speaker on business, social, and public policy issues, and taught international university students in Tel Aviv.

El Al is Israel’s flag-carrying national airline. It is prospering from the Hamas war recording its best first financial quarter of the fiscal year in the firm’s history. That is not as cringe-worthy as it seems at first glance. The company’s revenue in the first quarter of 2024 was 48% higher than the first quarter of 2023. Profit topped $80M.

When other major carriers erratically canceled flights and ultimately ghosted Israel after Hamas invaded, El Al swiftly added routes. Planes were packed with passengers and cargo. Ticket prices doubled and tripled, as weeks turned into months. The company CEO unashamedly told the press, to paraphrase, that is what happens when the competition folds under pressure.

My students in our Entrepreneurship class at Touro College Jerusalem surveyed a small sample of the English-speaking public at random in May to gain insights into the public persona of

El Al is under stress. 

Over decades of Middle East conflict, commercial airlines kept flying into Israel. They dealt with threats from terrorists’ missiles and anti-aircraft weapons. Flight crews operated in the liminal state between life and death. Open Skies sent a political message in addition to underpinning the nation’s commercial development.

In October 2023, alerts were issued warning pilots that a commercial plane might be mistaken for an enemy aircraft. There were warnings of debris in the sky from missile intercepts; manipulation of Internet location services to fool invaders; and GPS spoofing potentially affecting flight patterns. Pilots faced uncertainties about where to land in emergencies. In wartime, insurance premiums skyrocket. Planes had to carry extra fuel in case of diversions to other airports. Delays in take-offs and landings add to costs and money lost.

El Al is a cultural icon as well as a commercial venture. A blue and white Jewish star is the El Al symbol on every plane’s tail; the airline is woven into the fabric of the nation. Hostages in Entebbe? Divert El Al jumbo jets to extract them. Refugees fleeing Ethiopia? Build clandestine runways in the Sudan desert, rip out the seats in El Al jets, and pack men, women, and children on the floor for flights to their Biblical homeland. Rescue plans have sobriquets like Operation Solomon, Operation Magic Carpet, and Operation Ezra and Nechemia. El Al sent a plane to bring captured Nazi mass murderer Eichmann from Argentina to Israel for trial.   

It is the only airline equipped with onboard missile defense systems. Its airplanes did not fly Friday night until sundown Saturday night for 40 years until the state’s rabbis permitted Sabbath flights to bring home soldiers and military cargo from overseas after the invasion of Israel by Hamas.

The company is under relatively new management; kudos to them for keeping Israel's skies open to the public, essential cargo flowing into Israel, and turning a profit. There are problems they need to fix.  Here are highlights and lowlights from our findings.

El Al profited despite offering discounts to passengers rushing to Israel to rejoin military service units and a flurry of diplomats flying to foreign capitals. El Al became a lifeline for supplies when Red Sea ships became Houthi targets carrying cargo for the war effort and commercial goods for the public. Despite fewer tourists, El Al upped its market share to 80% in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to 22%, previous to Black Sabbath, October 7th.

In the end, record revenue and profits come down to supply and demand; i.e., ticket prices soared because El Al safely flew when other airlines canceled Tel Aviv service, citing safety concerns and sky-high insurance premiums. Perhaps competitors who cancel their flights and ghost Israel will be enticed to return to Israeli skies. That might lower ticket prices, increase tourism, and speed up deliveries of essential cargo.

My students each asked travelers between 21 and 55 years of age 12 questions about flying to Israel and El Al, specifically. Students describe the undertaking this way: “We raised questions about El Al that collected constructive criticism, identified competitors, quantified customer loyalty, and more. By receiving this feedback, opportunities to improve business success and business strategies can be identified.”

They found El Al is the most popular airline among Israeli respondents when buying tickets, with an average favorability rating of 7.5 out of 10. This coincides with other studies, for instance, as reported by Flight-report, that claim El Al gets an average 8 out of 10 rating by frequent fliers in peacetime. Students ranked respondents’ suggestions that the airline improves seating comfort, in-flight entertainment, and customer service. Americans believe competitors have “better frequent flier programs, more comfortable seating, and superior customer service…. The respondents’ dream flight experiences include easy booking, first-rate customer support, cozy seats, and reasonable costs.”

El Al’s support services rate poorly (5.5/10) by American fliers. The sky-high ticket prices that jumped since last October, dramatically contribute to the poor perception of El Al more frequently than it does of other carriers. Perhaps travelers see this as gouging in tough times; rightly or wrongly, we must see the long-term impact on El Al’s reputation.

“Younger respondents,” writes one student, particularly those in their early twenties, often prioritize affordability and comfort, while older customers in their forties and sixties focus on service quality and loyalty perks.” The breakdown applies to female respondents and male respondents, respectively. Long wait times for check-in service and misinformation from staff are particularly annoying to customers. “Despite these mixed reviews, many customers are willing to buy from El Al again, primarily due to the airline’s reliability and loyalty, especially in challenging times.”

Random comments from respondents point to other areas for improvement. Bathrooms on El Al can be filthy, needing regular cleaning; staff ignored complaints about a dog roaming the aisles on one flight; “teaching crew politeness and cross-cultural training would be an improvement… because El Al services globally to a large array of varying cultures.”

Notable comments include fliers’ appreciation for upholding Jewish values, particularly not flying on Jewish holidays and providing kosher meals. Elisheva got special attention from the flight crew when she was pregnant. Others take note that “El Al brought free bags to Israel for soldiers in the current Gaza war, and “they value the sense of security they experience on El Al’s flights because, for example, each flight has sky marshals with concealed arms.”

Finally, the students suggest El Al’s marketing ought to focus on people loyal to Israel and stop wasting marketing money on the general population. “Even in wartime, supporters of Israel have proven to be loyal and active consumers.” El Al is like an 18th-century poet’s lonely bird from “haunted places of sadness.” Israel is under siege. Our children are dying. Hostages are captive. But the national airline is “soaring in a flood of gladness” bringing hope with every Magen David landing and take-off on the tail of those lonely birds.