Mind the Tech London 2024El Al VP: "We must make sure that the connection between Israel and the world continues"
Mind the Tech London 2024
El Al VP: "We must make sure that the connection between Israel and the world continues"
Despite the challenging situation that has been going on for almost a year, El Al has also signed codeshare agreements and significant partnerships with some of the world's largest airlines. "This is our main focus," El Al's Shlomi Zafrany told CTech at Mind the Tech London.
EL AL's Shlomi Zafrany
(Credit: Calcalist Studio)
“Managing an airline during a war and its consequences is something that probably only Israeli companies can fully understand," said Shlomi Zafarany, VP of Commercial & Industrial Affairs at EL AL, who was interviewed as part of the Calcalist and Bank Leumi Mind the Tech London conference. According to him, EL AL is constantly working to adapt to all the requirements, guidelines and restrictions according to the situation.
"Everything is constantly changing, from October 7 until today. We have many limitations and we must adjust our activities, we must make sure that the connection between Israel and the world continues, and at the same time take into account the other aspects, among them the requirements of the IDF, the requirements of the airports and every other security and operational aspect that we have to adapt to," he explained. "This is a very unique challenge, but unfortunately we are already very used to it, so we are getting along."
Despite the challenging situation that has been going on for almost a year, EL AL has also signed codeshare agreements and significant partnerships with some of the world's largest airlines. "The first was Delta, a partnership we launched at the beginning of this year, in January, followed by the Scandinavian SAS, Air France - KLM Virgin, and there are more on the way." Zafarany explained that the codeshare agreements, which allow flights operated by another airline to be advertised under EL AL, are generally one of the solutions facing an airline that wishes to expand its offering to customers. "Say if we operate two flights a day to Heathrow Airport in London, or two flights a day to Amsterdam, once we connect with another airline such as KLM or Virgin, we can offer our customers more flights on a daily basis, including on weekends." He also added that these partnerships are also in the frequent flyer clubs, so EL AL's passengers can earn points even when they fly with the airlines in the partnership. "Ultimately the goal from our point of view is for our customers to enjoy an effortless experience even when they fly with our partners," he concluded. "In nine months we have done more than we have done for many years...we are very focused on this."
Other ways in which the company tries to respond to the needs of the passengers since the war began include, according to Zafarany, the full utilization of the aircraft fleet and adding more and more occupancy to meet the existing demand. "We focus on specific routes to provide a certain type of centers from which you can connect to the rest of the world", such as Athens and Larnaca and now Vienna and Dubai are also joining. "To cover all relevant areas," he explained. At the same time, El Al is adding a large number of flights, with the focus being on North America, London, Paris, while in the Far East the focus is on Thailand. "This is our main focus, to provide Israelis and passengers entering Israel with as much occupancy as possible, and in addition to that we are in the process of receiving new planes, and expect to add a new Dreamliner plane to our fleet in the coming months." In addition, El Al recently revealed a new contract with Boeing for the supply of up to 31 Max series aircraft. "This opportunity will allow us to grow over the years," he emphasized.
Watch the full interview in the video above
