El Al Israel Airlines

Is El Al safe?

Yes. In the jet age El Al has never lost a passenger in an accident, and its only fatal accident since 1955 was a cargo crash in 1992 caused by a design flaw in Boeing's engine pylons. We score it 80. That is lower than the big European airlines, mostly for two reasons that have nothing to do with how El Al flies: its fleet is older than most, and its home airspace has been closed by war twice in a little over a year.

The Bijlmer crash in 1992

El Al's worst accident in the jet age killed people on the ground. On 4 October 1992 cargo flight 1862, a Boeing 747 freighter, took off from Amsterdam for Tel Aviv. Climbing through 6,500 feet, the number 3 engine and its pylon broke away and struck number 4, which also fell off. The crew turned back but lost control while slowing for the approach, and the aircraft hit an eleven-storey apartment building in the Bijlmermeer district. The 4 people on board and 39 on the ground died.

Dutch investigators traced the failure to fatigue in a pylon fuse pin and found that the design and certification of the 747 pylon did not give the required safety margin, and that inspections had not caught the problem. We count the crash in El Al's record because it was an accident on an El Al flight, but it was not caused by the crew.

Between 1955 and 1992 El Al's fatal events were attacks. In 1955 Bulgarian fighters shot down a Constellation that had strayed into Bulgarian airspace, killing all 58 on board. We list attacks but leave them out of the accident score, as we do for every airline.

Security: why El Al is different

No airline has been targeted as often. El Al jets were hijacked to Algiers in 1968, attacked at Athens later that year, and the subject of a hijack attempt over the English coast in 1970, which ended when an El Al security guard on board shot one of the hijackers. Israeli airlines run their own security at each station, including questioning passengers before check-in, so allow extra time. After two missiles were fired at an Arkia charter leaving Mombasa in 2002, Israel funded C-MUSIC, an Elbit laser system that blinds heat-seeking missiles; in 2012 Elbit said it would be fitted to all El Al, Arkia and Israir jets.

Flying during the wars of 2025 and 2026

Israeli airspace has closed twice for long periods. On 13 June 2025, when Israel struck Iran and Iran fired back, the airspace shut; EASA told European airlines not to fly in Israeli airspace at any level, and flights resumed only after a ceasefire later that month. On 28 February 2026 US and Israeli strikes on Iran started a new war. Israel closed its airspace to most foreign airlines, and only Israeli carriers were allowed limited flights. In early April El Al was still running an emergency schedule to a few gateways such as New York, London and Bangkok, and take-offs and landings at Ben Gurion were limited to one plane an hour.

This page keeps to what matters for a passenger. Flights go only when Israel's authorities open the airspace, and we found no El Al accident in these periods. The risk shows up as cancellations, long rebooking queues and the chance of being stuck abroad, and we reflect it in the environment score of 55. GPS jamming and spoofing are also common across the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, according to EASA, which pilots handle with other navigation aids.

How old is El Al's fleet?

We could not confirm an average age, because El Al's investor site blocks automated access. In 2024 the fleet data firm ch-aviation counted 44 aircraft: 16 Boeing 787s, 4 777-200ERs, and 23 737-800s and 737-900ERs, plus one 737-800 converted to a freighter. The 787s are modern; the 777s and 737-800s are an older generation. In August 2024 El Al finalised an order for up to 31 737 MAXs, which Boeing said would renew its 737 fleet; deliveries are expected from about 2028.

Recent incidents

The incidents that matter are crew slips that were caught in time. In March 2018 a 787-9 left Tel Aviv for Newark with a zero-fuel weight entered 40 tonnes below the real figure, so the take-off performance was wrong; the captain noticed during the climb. In September 2023 a bird strike knocked off a sensor on a 737 approaching Tel Aviv and the captain's airspeed went wild; the first officer took over and landed safely. On 7 September 2026 a 777 arriving from Paris lined up about 1 nm north of the runway on a visual approach and went around at about 600 feet.

The one aircraft El Al has lost in 20 years was standing still after its own pushback: in March 2018 a Germania 737 being pushed back at Ben Gurion hit the tail of an El Al 767. Investigators blamed a ground controller's clearance and the ground crews, and the 767 was not repaired.

How we scored it

The accident record (90) and oversight (86) are solid: no fatal passenger accident in the jet age, and an FAA Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary regulator. The fleet (68) is older than most rivals', and incidents score 76. The operating environment (55) pulls the score down most: war closed El Al's home airspace in 2025 and 2026. Overall 80.