[Anonymous]

[LuganoPirate]

Just came across a piece that El Al is about to start a forth airline alliance. Virgin are mooted as being a possible member though it seems unlikely. Obviously EK and other ME airlines would stay clear for political reasons so it remains to be seen just which major airline would join.

Alliance is to be called “WE”. West – East Alliance!

[JackyLek]

Interesting Topic…..

But EL AL is like a HOT GUN in every aspect, so I think to form a alliance from EL AL will be very difficult ,as you state politics issue .

EL AL did try to get in with Star Alliance years ago, but got denied, the excuse was that EL AL dont have a network that Star havent cover. But during this period the Israel was in heavy fights with Yassir Arafat so many Star member didnt want EL AL to enter.

[LuganoPirate]

Just trying to imagine a Lufthansa code share ex Riyadh!!! El Al flying from Saudi. What would they think?

I cannot think of any major airline that is not already in an alliance. Aeroflot maybe but I doubt they would be interested.

It was confirmed by the Israeli government and reported in their press. Apparently they have 20 partners signed up so this will be interesting to see just who they are.

[samuel95]

Aeroflot already is in SkyTeam.

[MarcusUK]

Virgin have some partners in their program, as well as now reciprocal benefits with all the Virgin Airlines, but the other partners MH, GF, NZ, ANA etc, do not offer strictly reciprocal benefits.
In the existing program these need to be equalised, not just as code share /partners.

It would be good to see some of the individual Airlines more isolated, come together to offer a broader alternative. Star Alliance is too big now, Skyteam has several excellent Airlines, but some rather low grade members also, & are very weak in Asia – Oceania in network.

A more choice group, that does not replicate its business in the same regions, would be an advantage. For sure, Emirates intend to take other Airlines Business, mainly out of Europe, so unlikely they would match with anyone else.

[VintageKrug]

Skyteam is presently the “also ran” alliance, so I suppose it’s good news for them – this new alliance will now now be bottom of the alliance pile.

[LuganoPirate]

Good point VK, but I’m not sure this will get off the ground. Malaysia does not allow anyone who has even visited Israel to enter, so cannot see them entering this alliance.

I had not realised Aeroflot was part of sky team so that does not leave any other major. I don’t think Virgin would join and I feel they would be better off leading an Aliance rather than be a partner of an Alliance that El Al would surely try to dominate.

I know this has been discussed in another thread but if Virgin went on it’s own we could have five alliances and then sky team would not not even be “last but one”!

[MartynSinclair]

LuganoPirate – can I resepctfully correct you on one point. I am a regular visitor to Malaysia and have several Israeli entry stamps in my passport. I have never encountered any problems whatso ever at immigration in KL.

My question on the other thread was about the creation of a middle east alliance to include El Al and whether this would create benefits for travellers.

I would not have thought that El Al are in a position to dominate any alliance, but would be welcomed greatly for their impressive security record.

[LuganoPirate]

I stand corrected Martyn and thanks for pointing this out..

This info came from another source and was probably muddled with this statement that came from the US Govt. Travel Site:

“If you have Israeli entry or exit stamps in your U.S. passport, you should not encounter difficulty at Malaysian Immigration. However, U.S.-Israeli dual nationals have been denied entry after presenting their Israeli passports to show exit stamps from their last destination. Therefore, it is important that U.S.-Israeli dual nationals use their U.S. passports to depart the last country on their itinerary prior to arriving in Malaysia.”

I just googled this from the Israeli press:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3938463,00.html

My only reason for saying El Al would try and dominate the alliance is because they would probably be the largest carrier, though it’s a shame the article does not elaborate further as to who the other members may be.

More frightening (and nothing to do with the alliance story) however, was this article: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3927116,00.html

It’s about a new technology in case a plane flying towards Israel is hijacked:

“The Code Positive technology, developed by Elbit Systems, is in essence an electronic smart card that every pilot will carry in his pocket while flying to Israel. At the identification point, some 200 miles off Israel’s coastline, the pilot will be given a code consisting of a few digits. He will have to transmit the code to the Israeli control tower before getting clearance to continue towards Israel.

Should the pilot feel threatened, he would transmit an emergency code communicating to the control tower he is no longer in control of the plane, at which point fighter jets will be alerted.

The prime minister and defense minister will decide whether the plane will be shot down or not.”

I could imagine even if hijacked the pilot would transmit the right code and take his chances with the hijackers rather than have a 50/50 chance of being shot down!

[Author]

Posts