Expanded El AL capacity

[longtimelurker23]

With all the cancellations, AA vacating the TLV routes completely, and the prospect of political pressure, is there any danger that United/Delta will step back from The EY" routes?
Maybe my google fu ain't no good, but I am having trouble figuring out the fixed and variable costs of expanding capacity. Is there any way for ELAL to realistically expand capacity from South florida, DC/Balt/NJ/PHL, ATL, NYC etc... while maintaining some level of price competitiveness ( +25% only) given upfront costs? I really appreciate ELAL's improvements the last few years and would love to prioritize flying with them.
How feasible are charter flights. Could the frum/jewish community fill up some charters, even if only at peak times?

[SHL]

With all the cancellations, AA vacating the TLV routes completely, and the prospect of political pressure, is there any danger that United/Delta will step back from The EY" routes?
Maybe my google fu ain't no good, but I am having trouble figuring out the fixed and variable costs of expanding capacity. Is there any way for ELAL to realistically expand capacity from South florida, DC/Balt/NJ/PHL, ATL, NYC etc... while maintaining some level of price competitiveness ( +25% only) given upfront costs? I really appreciate ELAL's improvements the last few years and would love to prioritize flying with them.
How feasible are charter flights. Could the frum/jewish community fill up some charters, even if only at peak times?

Opinion not fact
Currently elal does not have the necessary airframes to majorly expand service (orders can take years to fulfill) and leases have issues of inconsistent hard product experience and reliability

Re charters
There are a few issues
1-who is willing to take care of the upfront? In the last year I know of 3 different charters that fell apart at the last minute leaving travelers stranded. Primary issues were not enough seats purchased and the agent didn't want to take a loss
2-will people be willing to work through agents to process charters? Even if they agree somehow everyone thinks that the agent  running is scalping them.
3-can the price be competitive? Especially if they need to stop enroute for logistical reasons?

Aside for this there was talk at one point of bringing back a tower air style operation of you get a seat on this day show up fill planes and yalla

[solmeir]

With all the cancellations, AA vacating the TLV routes completely, and the prospect of political pressure, is there any danger that United/Delta will step back from The EY" routes?
Maybe my google fu ain't no good, but I am having trouble figuring out the fixed and variable costs of expanding capacity. Is there any way for ELAL to realistically expand capacity from South florida, DC/Balt/NJ/PHL, ATL, NYC etc... while maintaining some level of price competitiveness ( +25% only) given upfront costs? I really appreciate ELAL's improvements the last few years and would love to prioritize flying with them.
How feasible are charter flights. Could the frum/jewish community fill up some charters, even if only at peak times?

Source for AA vacating completely? I have tickets in January

[Jacob88]

Opinion not fact
Currently elal does not have the necessary airframes to majorly expand service (orders can take years to fulfill) and leases have issues of inconsistent hard product experience and reliability

EL Al used wet-leased planes on and off for about year on the Toronto route prior to getting the Dreamliner on the route (prior to 2020)
Im am surprised they dont do so again for the international flights and explore other airports where they dont currently fly - that may have capacity to take on additional international flights (like Ottawa/Montreal/Boston/Charlotte).

[lover of truth]

el al ain't delta and  doesn't have 100 million bucks to risk even the  smallest chace that next week there is ceasefire in gaza and whole  thing  is over
ua and delta will pile right back in furiously and  all extra crew training and lease waisted
as far as charter goes couple tears ak my brother  booked charter for sukkos  and a week before it fell apart so not  sure  who  would   go down there. not to mention insurance for leased planes

[lover of truth]

EL Al used wet-leased planes on and off for about year on the Toronto route prior to getting the Dreamliner on the route (prior to 2020)
Im am surprised they dont do so again for the international flights and explore other airports where they dont currently fly - that may have capacity to take on additional international flights (like Ottawa/Montreal/Boston/Charlotte).

charlotte? ottawa?
for that one ger

[Jacob88]

charlotte? ottawa?
for that one ger

El Al already has many code share agreements with various airlines. Its just an extra connecting flight from nyc to charlotte and then onto tlv with el al.

[Zali]

El Al already has many code share agreements with various airlines. Its just an extra connecting flight from nyc to charlotte and then onto tlv with el al.

In theory. In practice though their flights from Chicago are so poorly priced that it's actually cheaper to buy the exact same Delta flight to JFK or BOS separately and self connect to El Al then to buy the same exact seat as an El Al codeshare ticket. YMMV, but I can't imagine this is just a Chicago thing

[SHL]

In theory. In practice though their flights from Chicago are so poorly priced that it's actually cheaper to buy the exact same Delta flight to JFK or BOS separately and self connect to El Al then to buy the same exact seat as an El Al codeshare ticket. YMMV, but I can't imagine this is just a Chicago thing

Are you factoring bag fees and avoiding basic economy?
In GDS I have not seen major differences

[noah32]

Are you factoring bag fees and avoiding basic economy?
In GDS I have not seen major differences

Definitely true. Just priced this out from Chicago for January. Way more expensive (over 1500 dollars for 6 tickets) to to ORD-TLV via ELAL then just do JFK-TLV and get the delta (or jetblue) flights to NYC separately.

[longtimelurker23]

Source for AA vacating completely? I have tickets in January

Sorry, left out a word: Miami.

AA surrendered Miami and at the time there was talk of other routes disappearing like the old Philly one.

Please don't do anything drastic with your itinerary based on some random DDFer.

[longtimelurker23]

el al ain't delta and  doesn't have 100 million bucks to risk even the  smallest chace that next week there is ceasefire in gaza and whole  thing  is over
ua and delta will pile right back in furiously and  all extra crew training and lease waisted
as far as charter goes couple tears ak my brother  booked charter for sukkos  and a week before it fell apart so not  sure  who  would   go down there. not to mention insurance for leased planes

Good response, Thanks
I figured those upfront costs are huge.
good point about ELAL not having the scale to risk much.