alongfreq

Article on Ynet (Hebrew): http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3938117,00.html

ysmisc

I really hope this will work out!! I think that lack of proper alliance for LY is their biggest problem.
Anyone know more about it? Which airlines?
best
ysmisc

TWA884

According to the article, three small East European airlines, UTair, Aerosvit Airlines and Armavia.

Eventually, they hope to expand to twenty members.

handsomestpete

How about Palestinian Airlines?

Jasper2009

I think this is more like bad news

IMO LY shouldn´t start an alliance with a bunch of airlines nobody knows or pax only fly if it cannot be avoided.

I was hoping LY would join either *A or OW one day, while LH would likely not allow the former I could imagine LY making a deal with BA (LHR hub) and CX (HKG hub) that would work well for everyone.

Another alternative would be forming an alliance with some quality airlines like Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia, Alaska Airlines, and maybe some other airlines like Virgin America or JetBlue.

For a start it would greatly improve LY´s situation if LY didn´t only codeshare with a variety of quality airlines (AA, LX, TG), but also allow earning/burning miles across the FFPs at reasonable rates.

TWA884

It is not going to happen. According to the article, the Arab airline members of the three global alliances keep vetoing El Al's membership.

Jasper2009

Would you be so kind to elaborate on this? (I don´t speak Hebrew)

AFAIK Syteam doesn´t have any Arab member airlines.
OneWorld has Royal Jordanian, but BA, QF, AA and CX certainly are the dominating airlines.
Star Alliance doesn´t have any Arab airlines, but EgyptAir and Turkish Airlines could be a problem, though as far as I am concerned both airlines can be kicked out of *A in favor of LY. (though I realize this is unlikely to happen)

seaskybound

I do not fly ElAL mainly because they are not part of an alliance. Saying that a 4th alliance that is 'not serious' will not help them

TWA884

It is a rather long article and I don't have the time to sit down and translate it. I'll try to do it over the weekend, if an English version is not published by then.

In the meantime, I can direct you to this blurb or Google Translate.

Jasper2009

Thank´s for the link! I was able to understand most of the article, so no need to waste your time and translate it.

The major arguments of the article are:

1. LY is going to found an alliance "Eastern Western" with three Eastern European airlines (Aerosvit, Armavia and UTair), aiming to include 20 airlines in the future

2. article explains the concept of airline alliances (cost saving, cheaper airfares for pax, lounge access etc.) and argues TLV could become an international hub for travel from Asia to Europe and North and South America as well as Europe to Asia (example given is pax travelling from India would connect in TLV to get to North America)

3. the article suggests many Israelis would be willing to connect in Eastern Europe when travelling to North America if airfares decreased
(example given is pax flying TLV-Kiev-New York)

----------

In my opinion all three arguments are ridiculous.

1. While I´m sure some airlines could be convinced to form an alliance, I don´t think LY should start an alliance with a bunch of rubbish/unknown airlines. IMO El Al is a quality airline (though not perfect, it´s miles better than any Eastern European airline) and should strive to compete with LH, BA and the likes.

2. TLV will never become a major international hub for three reasons:
a) increased security at TLV doesn´t make it very convenient to connect in TLV
b) the number of antisemitic bigots is unfortunately growing rather than decreasing, I don´t see many Europeans would be willing to connect in TLV
c) El Al will always have higher costs flying out of TLV than airlines at other hubs due to having to circumvent some Arab countries´ airspace

3. I don´t think many people are willing to fly via Eastern Europe (especially countries as far east as Ukraine, Armenia etc.) except those Israelis coming from this region. I find it very hard to believe anyone else would consider travelling TLV-Kiev-NYC as
a) it would add many, many hours to the trip
b) in addition to the non-stop flights there are dozens decent connecting flights via Western Europe, and there are many pretty competitive airfares out of TLV
c) the airports in Western Europe will always be a much more convenient and pleasant place to connect than airports in the former Soviet Union

As mentioned in my post above I would much prefer LY to establish a partnership with some quality airlines, there are still some left on the market:

Virgin Atlantic
V Australia
Virgin America
(JetBlue)
Alaska Airlines
Westjet
Aerolíneas Argentinas
(Bangkok Airways)
(Air Asia)
EVA Air


Personally I´d prefer LY not to be a member of any alliance if this is what the alliance will look like.

ebzed

I Agree with Jasper2009, This is looking like a big joke and if ti will eventually happen it will affect LY passangers...

I pretty much like the way JetBlue works, They partner with other air-lines (doesnt matter if they are in an alliance or not), And doing what was pretty much what was advertise above (You buy one jetblue ticket which the connection to the partner, You get points).

If EL-AL would get smart they would work this way with others and avoid the WE (Are poor airlines) Alliance stuff...

ahronshapiro

What are the chances an airline that services Australia will be included in the alliance plan?

entropy

I don't see a point in LY starting/joining an alliance of lousy airlines.

LY's network is designed for O/D traffic.

TLV, while it is a most excellent airport, and a serious O/D market, is not a good connecting point for the reasons mentioned above.

What LY needs to do is build STRONG, SEAMLESS connection options onward from major cities that they serve. JFK (AA and B6), LAX (AA), GRU (?), LHR (?), HKG (?), etc. Partners will enable LY to capture more business traffic which need complex itins that do not confine themselves to LY's relatively small network.

LatusElAl

Overall, I agree that LY forming an alliance of subpar airlines is a very bad idea. But I disagree with the following reasoning:

Have you tried connecting through LHR lately? Its perhaps the #1 connecting hub in the world and the security there - and fees - are absolutely ridiculous. I rather think that Israeli profiling policy would actually make security far more efficient, let alone more effective (in any event) than the Brits in LHR. That doesn't mean TLV will become a connections hub anytime soon, but I don't think security is a factor in that equation, at least not anymore.

mikebg

Not half as bad as trying to connect through anywhere in the USA though!