El Al's jumbo fleet signs off in style with aerial farewell
The closure of the national carrier's famous jumbo fleet marks part of the company’s strategic move to remove old aircraft from service and replace them with new, advanced planes.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFFlight LY1747 from Rome to Tel Aviv signed off by creating a "sky painting" of a Boeing 747 near southern Cyprus, visible to those tracking the aircraft online.(photo credit: FLIGHTRADAR24/SCREENSHOT)
Bidding farewell to the jumbo jet, El Al’s final commercial Boeing 747 flight landed at Ben-Gurion Airport on Sunday afternoon.Flight LY1747 from Rome to Tel Aviv signed off 48 years of jumbo activity by creating a “sky painting” of a Boeing 747 near southern Cyprus, visible to those tracking the aircraft online.The closure of the national carrier’s famous jumbo fleet marks part of the company’s strategic move to remove old aircraft from service and replace them with new, advanced planes.The fleet will ultimately be replaced by El Al’s new Dreamliner series, which will be operated on the company’s non-stop routes to a range of North American destinations, including New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto. The growing fleet is also in operation on routes to London, Paris and Hong Kong.El Al has already welcomed 12 of a total of 16 Dreamliners, renewing its long-haul fleet at a cost exceeding $1.25 billion. The carrier expects to welcome two more aircraft by the end of the year, and the final two aircraft by March 2020.
