ElAL 777 part 2: The Day After the 777

What Should El Al’s Long-Haul Future Look Like? (A Financial and Strategic View)

The refurbished Boeing 777 is not El Al’s future. It is a bridge.

The real question is not how well the aircraft was refreshed, but what comes next once the 777 finally exits the stage. For a small airline with a limited fleet, fleet decisions are not tactical—they are financial and strategic bets that shape profitability for decades.

The Financial Reality: Size, Cost, and Utilization

At the heart of the discussion sits a fundamental trade-off: capacity versus cost efficiency.

787-8 / 787-9: The Cost-Efficiency Benchmark

The Boeing 787 family is widely regarded as one of the most financially efficient long-haul platforms ever built.

Key financial advantages:

• Lower fuel burn per seat

• Lower maintenance costs

• Smaller crews

• Strong flexibility across a wide range of routes

A 787-8 or 787-9 is relatively forgiving. It performs well even when demand softens, and it allows airlines like El Al to right-size capacity without risking massive revenue dilution.

This is why the 787 has become El Al’s backbone.

777-9 (777X): A Different Financial Animal

The Boeing 777-9 plays in a completely different league.

Compared to a 787-9:

• It carries significantly more passengers

• It has much higher absolute operating costs

• It requires consistently strong demand to justify deployment

While the 777-9 is far more fuel-efficient than legacy 777s, it is still a large, capital-intensive aircraft. Its economics only truly shine when it replaces multiple frequencies or when demand is permanently constrained by infrastructure rather than market size.

In other words: the 777-9 is not about flexibility—it is about density and slot optimization.

Pilot Training: An Often Overlooked Advantage

One factor often underestimated in fleet discussions is crew commonality.

Boeing designed the 777X cockpit to maintain a high degree of commonality with both the classic 777 and the 787. For airlines already operating the Dreamliner, this matters.

For El Al, this means:

• No full type-rating is required for pilots transitioning from the 787 to the 777X

• Only a short differences training and certification process is needed

This dramatically reduces:

• Training costs

• Time to operational readiness

• Workforce inflexibility

From a financial perspective, this lowers one of the major barriers usually associated with introducing a larger aircraft type.

Slot Constraints Change the Equation

Where the 777X becomes strategically interesting is not fuel burn—it is slots.

El Al operates into some of the most slot-constrained airports in the world:

• New York JFK

• Newark

• Boston

• Los Angeles

• London Heathrow

• Key Asian hubs in the Far East

On many of these routes, El Al’s flights are consistently full to exhaustion, particularly during peak seasons. Demand exists, but adding frequencies is either impossible or economically inefficient due to slot scarcity.

In this context, a larger aircraft changes the math.

A single 777X-9 could:

• Replace multiple smaller widebodies

• Increase total capacity without requiring new slots

• Improve revenue per movement rather than per seat

For routes to North America and the Far East that are already operating at maximum load factors, higher capacity is not a risk—it is an opportunity.

The Trade-Off: Concentration Risk

However, capacity cuts both ways.

A 787 can be redeployed easily. A 777X-9 cannot.

Putting too much capacity into one aircraft increases:

• Revenue volatility

• Exposure to seasonal swings

• Operational risk during disruptions

For an airline of El Al’s size, this means any move toward very large aircraft must be extremely selective.

A Hybrid Financial Strategy

The most realistic long-term model for El Al is not an all-or-nothing decision.

A financially disciplined approach would look like this:

• The 787 family remains the core of the long-haul fleet

• A very small number of higher-capacity aircraft is used on slot-constrained, consistently full routes

• These aircraft are deployed surgically, not system-wide

This strategy maximizes:

• Fleet flexibility

• Cost control

• Revenue per slot

While minimizing:

• Training burden

• Capital risk

• Overcapacity exposure

The 777X in El Al’s Context

The 777X is not a natural fit for El Al today—but it is not irrelevant either.

Its relevance depends entirely on:

• Long-term slot availability

• Sustained demand to North America and Asia

• El Al’s appetite for measured growth rather than fleet minimalism

If El Al ever decides to add a larger aircraft, the 777X’s pilot commonality with the 787 and its superior per-slot economics make it the only large widebody that makes strategic sense.

Final Thought: Economics Over Ego

The day after the 777 will not be defined by aircraft size or marketing optics.

It will be defined by economics.

El Al’s future long-haul success depends on disciplined fleet planning, ruthless cost awareness, and smart use of constrained infrastructure. Whether through more Dreamliners, or a carefully chosen step up in capacity, the airline’s decisions must be driven by yield per slot, not pride per aircraft.

The refurbished 777 bought El Al time. What matters now is how wisely that time is used.