El Al Will Continue Growth With More Dreamliners And Larger Variant
El Al’s widebody fleet currently consists of 17 Dreamliners and 6 777s:
- 3 777-200ERs retrofitted with direct aisle access lie-flat business class seats.
- 3 777-200ERs with the original configuration, though not all of these are currently in service.
- 4 787-8s with direct aisle access lie-flat business class seats.
- 1 787-9 with the Air China configuration with 2-2-2 business class and no premium economy cabin.
- 12 787-9s with direct aisle access lie-flat business class seats.
The airline previously ordered 5 more 787-9s, which are expected to arrive between 2026-2030, which will give it 22 Dreamliners.
El Al announced today that it will exercise an option to buy 6 more 787s, which will give it 28 confirmed Dreamliners by 2032.
Those options were originally for 787-9s, but El Al is upgrading 4 of the options exercised today for the 787-9s to larger 787-10s, which are expected to be delivered between 2030-2032.
The airline will also take on options for another 6 787s between 2033-2035, which means it may have as many as 34 Dreamliners by 2035 if all of those options are exercised.
El Al’s current 787-9s are outfitted with 271 seats.
For comparison, United’s 787-9s have 257 seats or 222 in its new elevated configuration with business class suites with doors. United’s 787-10 has 318 seats.
United uses the 787-10 between Newark and Tel Aviv, and the aircraft will help El Al regain some of the capacity it lost when it retired the 747 in 2019. El Al’s updated 777 has capacity for 313 passengers, so the 787-10 will also help replace that capacity when the 777s are retired.
El Al is also expecting 737MAX aircraft to arrive starting next year, which will replace its aging 737NG fleet.
Which cities do you hope El Al will add service to as the new Dreamliners come online?
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