El Al is planning to use its US-based affiliate, North American Airlines (NAA), to boost its US business market activities.
El Al holds a 24.9% stake in NAA, which operates US feeder flights for the Israeli carrier and charter services. The remainder of the airline is held by the founder, Dan Mackinon.
The airline, which operates two Boeing 737-800s and three 757-200s, operates feeder flights from New York to Miami, Orlando and Los Angeles. Until now, NAA's main market was flying tourist groups travelling between the two countries, within the USA.
El Al president David Hermesh says new services are being considered from New York to Boston and San Francisco.
"With the introduction of the Boeing 777 on El Al's North American network, we plan to shift our focus to business traffic. NAA flights to new destinations in the USA is part of the plan", he says.
The plan is to use the airline to offer the shortest connection time for Israeli business travellers going on to different industry and business centres within the USA.
Source: Flight International
