Encounter with El Al CEO
 

I fly El Al quite often and although I am an American I've developed some Israeli Chutzpah.

I was waiting in the F lounge for my flight from JFK-TLV when in pranced El Al CEO, Eliezer Shkedi. He was accompanied by several El Al employees and walked around the (very small) room introducing himself to the 5 or 6 passengers who were there. One of the few great perks of F is being escorted as a group through security and to the plane a few minutes before boarding. Shkedy joined the group and I hung onto him, sensing a great opportunity.

As we walked the long corridor toward the plane, I saw an SQ A380 in the distance and asked him "Why doesn't El Al get one of those?". It took him a couple of seconds to realize what I was talking about but he recovered quickly and smiled "You do know that those aren't safe". I then asked him about a 787 or 747-800 and he either played dumb or had no clue what I was talking about. Maybe both ;)

Shkedi was seated in Business (no idea why as there were several open seats in F) but came up to the F Cabin a few times to converse with the passengers. Most of the passengers ignored him but I had a great conversation with him. I applauded the fantastic F service and meal and then told him my honest feeling about the El Al F Seat. His reply was even better; "Nobody else has First Class seats like this from New York to Tel Aviv". When I reminded him that Delta and Continental don't have F and that their Business seats are even better he just smiled again and told me that El Al was the best in the industry.

All in all, seemed like an extremely nice guy with little or no clue about the airline business. Here's to hoping that he is just a figurehead (and maybe a backup pliot) and that there is someone else running the show

Well, I wouldn't be so sure. Did you ask him why El Al has such a lousy website? If he's so clueless, the board should ditch him. If he doesn't care or isn't in charge, he should be ditched.

Sad really...

Turns out he was returning from the Jerusalem Post Conference. He's right that they're the only ones on that route with F seats like that. They're the only one on the planet with F seats like that!

I think the MS F hard product is even worse.:p

You´re right, it´s a pity LY hasn´t bothered to update their F product. I realize they won´t introduce suites or seats á la new LX F / UA F anytime soon, but even if they bought the old F seats from LH which could be used in a 1-2-1 config that would be a great improvement over the current F seats.

:eek:

It sure is a pity. Though I don't think buying LH's old F seats would help. They need to replace their whole aging 744 fleet with 748s, and come up with brand new F suites and brand new lie-flat Biz seats. Give us AVOD, power, and WiFi in all classes as well. Then add that to the 772s. Then order 787s to replaces the 767s. Repeat. Then call yourself a world-class airline. (If you could fix your website, create a single, intuitive app (a la the UA app) and release it for iPhone and Android, and revamp the Matmid program including partners, and make your customer service center less Israeli and more Western, that'd be great too.)

Yes, this is the case. His right hand is a woman who also was the right hand for Chaim Romano. Shkedi is a nice guy, but he doesn't know anything about the competition or industry. his biggest donation to the company has been a program called GlobaLY which many within thinks is a waste of time. Nobody sees how having every Jew have a Matmid account will translate into sales.

But they did! the current product is relatively new and that makes it even worse as they installed such a basic dated product.

You would think he would make it his business to, wouldn't you...

And if you would have asked him what a FFP is or what Matmid is, he wouldn't have a clue either.
The only thing that Eliezer Shkedi knows about aviation is the afterburner.
He may know the physics of flying a F16, but has no idea how to manage a company.

Is there anyway we could get Joshwex90 or Damaxer91 to take over Shkedi's position?

I'd prefer my current job :)

So the CEO job is all mine?! ;) :p :D

Yes. According to a good source, they are actually in the midst of looking for a new CEO. Feel free to throw your hat in the ring

Clubman?

I think channa should run IT...


LY has great potential. I see a few high level things they can do to "fix" themselves in the near term.

1) Refurbish and bring cabins to the same configuration(747/777). Why an airline that has 6 747s has 3 different configs is beyond me. If they want to keep one for el-cheapo ops without F fine. A solid lie flat product in F (see LH/LX for good examples, hell even old United). A decent lie-flat product in C.
2) Buy off some 787 slot positions from operators that have them and are having cash issues (no shortage of those). Replace the entire 767 fleet 1-1 as those come on. Each 787 should have the same configuration.
3) Build new Website that actually works
4) Stop with the stupid one-off economy service/C seat, etc nonsense. Sell an upgrade to business or first. The seat's the important part anyway, why not charge an extra 100 NIS and put it all in?
5) Restructure "Matmid" into a program that fits conceptually in (miles not 'points') with other FFPs and parter with a real CC (like AX) in the US to get some cash flow going.

entropy, I'll be glad to hire you as my deputy. I don't think channa would want to join - the UA board needs his perspective there! ;)