El Al, Israel's national airline long known for its stringent security, may see a boost in clientele as airline safety becomes paramount after hijacked jetliners were crashed into New York and Washington, industry analysts said Sunday, September 23.
The carrier had suffered harsh losses and a 50 percent fall in the number of foreign tourists visiting Israel since the start of the Palestinian intifada a year ago, but the US attacks may prove beneficial to the struggling airline.
El Al, known to perform the most intensive airport security checks in the world, saw hundreds line up at its check-ins in New York's JFK airport following the three-day close on US airspace, said spokesperson Nachman Klieman.
El Al is now considering leasing passenger planes abroad, speculating on a possible increase in demand for its flights to and from Israel, and a parallel cut in foreign airline activity, Israel's financial newspaper Globes reported.
Meanwhile, four of the major US airlines have announced they are axing more than 70,000 jobs, while British Airways is to cut 7,000 jobs and Virgin Atlantic 1,200. Boeing, the giant US plane maker, which saw two of its jets hijacked on September 11, has said it will make 20,000 to 30,000 workers redundant in expectation that fewer people will want to fly.
"We now have several hundred people waiting in New York to get on a flight to Israel, but it's still too early to know whether we've seen a real increase in business," Klieman said. The airline's security record of never having had a plane hijacked in over three decades is a testament to the extra security precautions it takes on the plane as well on the ground, and which are unmatched by other carriers. Cockpits are sealed off by two doors never opened during flight and armed Israeli sky marshals in plainclothes fly in passenger seats.
The airline began adding flights following the reopening of US airspace in order to make up for cancelled flights, but the push to get on an El Al plane Sunday before the Yom Kippur holiday, one of the busiest travel seasons in the year, has left New York's JFK airport flooded with customers.
Two weeks before Liat and Brian Kushner were to fly out to the United States to celebrate their recent wedding with US friends, Liat received a phone call from her mother frantically begging them to switch to an El Al flight. "I said to her if it gives you some peace of mind we'll take El Al," Kushner said.
Kushner was originally slated for a Continental flight, which she said may be more spacious, but wanted "both our families in the United States to feel comfortable with us flying." Kushner says she is not worried about flying from Israel, knowing that the security check at Ben Gurion international airport is uniformly stringent.
But she adds that there is a bonus with El Al. Another carrier might cancel the return flight, like Delta airlines, which ceased flights to Israel unexpectedly, leaving many customers stranded. "With El Al I know the return flight will happen as scheduled. I heard rumors that other airlines might cancel," she said. ― (AFP, Jerusalem)
by Daniel Grushkin
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
