El Al is an airline founded in 1948. It is the national airline of Israel and operates worldwide out of its hub at Ben Gurion International Airport. The name El Al means "Towards the Sky" in Hebrew.
The first El Al flight was made in 1948 by an Israeli military aircraft that was officially downgraded to a civilian plane to transport Israeli president Chaim Weizmann home from Geneva, Switzerland. The flight was necessitated by an embargo that prevented other commercial flights from entering the country. The military plane was painted with the logo and name of El Al, the national Israeli aviation body. Later that year the Israeli government sanctioned the establishment of a national airline that would operate around the world.
In 1949 El Al purchased its first aircraft--two DC-4s produced by America's Douglas Aircraft Company. The Israeli government heavily funded El Al in the early years, as did a number of philanthropic and political Jewish organizations. Many believed that commercial carriers could not be counted on to provide regular service to and from Israel, especially during times of political discord.
By the end of 1950, El Al had new planes and was running regularly scheduled flights to several European capitals.
Throughout the 1950s and '60s, El Al entered a period of rapid expansion. Its fleet was enlarged to include planes such as the Bristol Britannia and the Lockheed Constellation. El Al also added transatlantic flights to its schedule.
In the late 1960s, El Al added the Boeing 707 to its fleet. In 1960, El Al had its first profitable year. The airline continued to do well through the 1960s, surpassing many established airlines in terms of total passenger miles and number of scheduled flights.
In 1982 labor strikes forced El Al to suspend operations. Once again the Israeli government stepped in and a slow climb back to financial stability began. Through the early 2000s, as airlines around the world suffered from decreased ticket sales and high fuel costs, El Al continued to struggle to post consistent profits.
As a symbol of Israel, El Al has been the target of numerous political acts. In 1968, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked an El Al plane and held the passengers prisoner for 40 days. The El Al offices have also been bombed numerous times. As a result, El Al has been a leader in airline security since the 1960s. All El Al passengers are personally interviewed before their flight and armed undercover security personnel are stationed on every El Al flight. Other measures, such as notarizing the tickets of passengers as they pass through security, have been adopted by the airline industry at large after first being required by El Al alone.
Besides representing the Jewish state of Israel, and carrying all of the political controversy that it implies, El Al has been a target of controversy for other reasons. The intensive screening procedures used to detect possible threats are seen by some as an instance of profiling. The inspection of baggage and searching of passengers has also been cited as a potential violation of civil rights in various countries where El Al operates.
As El Al grew in the 1970s, it began offering flights on the Jewish sabbath, drawing fire from hard-line Jewish factions who believed it unlawful. The airline initially defended its decision before agreeing to suspend such flights.
