Originally Posted by
LY777
LY does need an airplane to fill the gap between the A330(around 210 pax in a 3 class config) and the A380 (around 520 pax).
The right combo for LY is 737/787/772/77W or 748 or even A380.
The 737/A330/A380 does not seem good to me, but it is only my opinion: the gap between the A330 and the A380 is huge for me. And I am not even sure that the A330 has the legs to fly to LAX.
LY777,
Actually, around the same time EL AL decided to go with the 737 (late 1990's) they also decided on the 777. For both instances, EL AL wanted to go with competing Airbus models but could not because the company was government owned and the US government demanded that EL AL buy exclusively from Boeing. Hence, the right combo for LY would have been A320/A330/A380. Given that EL AL has a substantial 737 fleet with further deliveries, it would be unrealistic to get rid of the 737 at this stage as the platform for European and regional destinations.
However, EL AL has only 6 772's and with the right deal from Airbus it would make economic sense to get rid of them in favor of the A330 or even A350. Though the 772 and A330 have different advantages/disadvantages, the fact is that they are very similar to one another, so much so that there has historically (and even currently) been a lot of competition between the two models.