Round-the-World Flights

El Al Makes a Round-the-World Jet Flight

Page 5e (rev: 1000)

Flown Cover - Israel	Australia	US	South Africa	England

	El Al is the national airline of Israel.  Its birth occurred almost simultaneously with the birth 
of Israel.  El Al Israel Airlines was officially established on November 15, 1948.  The literal 
meaning of El Al is "To-On" but is more commonly translated as "up toward the sky."
    It began regularly scheduled operations to London in August 1949, followed by more routes in the 
eastern Mediterranean. On May 16, 1951 it began to offer regularly scheduled services across the 
Atlantic Ocean from Tel Aviv to New York with stops in London England, Shannon Ireland and Gander 
Newfoundland.  El Al was part of the postwar expansion in passenger airlines where commercial air 
service was no longer limited to European and American airlines.
	Its first regularly scheduled nonstop jet service across the Atlantic took place on January 5, 
1961 with a Boeing 707 leased from Varig, the Brazilian airline.  In 1961, El Al was the world's 35th 
largest airline in terms of accumulated passenger-miles.  In the 1960s, El Al's fleet comprised a mix 
of Boeing 707 and Boeing 720B aircraft.  On November 7, 1962 El Al made a round-the-world jet 
flight.

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