Israeli flag-carrier El Al is initiating formation of a new aviation alliance after abandoning attempts to join one of the three main ones.
Air Transport Intelligence has learned that El Al already has the approval of three airlines to join: Russia's UTAir, Ukraine's AeroSvit and Armenian carrier Armavia.
The airlines have signed a letter of intent to form the alliance - to be called 'Eastern-Western' - and the participants plan to sign a final agreement within the next 90 days.
Israeli sources familiar with the situation say that efforts will be made to persuade a total of 20 airlines to join the new alliance by the end of 2011.
While El Al's policy of not flying on the holy Sabbath, plus its special security arrangements, have been cited for the airline's non-inclusion in the three major alliances, Israeli senior sources state that the main reason is diplomatic.
Neither El Al, nor any of the three would-be alliance members, could immediately be reached for comment.
Earlier this year, El Al declared that it would "dramatically" increase the number of codeshare agreements it had with foreign airlines, as a substitute for membership in the main alliances.
But this effort has had limited success owing to problems with the Israeli anti-trust authorities.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
