At the Jerusalem Post Conference in New York, Sharon Brownstone, General Counsel of El Al, spoke about the airline’s crucial role after the attack on October 7 and its continued commitment to serving as Israel’s aerial lifeline. Her remarks provided a rare behind-the-scenes look at how Israel’s national airline operated under crisis conditions.
“I believe on October 7, it was very clear to El Al what our responsibility is as the flag carrier of Israel,” Brownstone said. “We had one mission, and it was to keep the sky open, and the bridge from Israel to the world open.”
Brownstone recalled the chaos of those first days, as demand for flights surged. “Our call center gets about 6,000 calls per day—on October 7, we received 60,000 calls. We needed to bring people who were stuck all over the world back to Israel… soldiers who wanted to come back and fight, medical personnel, civilians. El Al employees worked day and night just to keep this 'air bridge' open and bring everybody back home.”
Flying in wartime came with new and unprecedented challenges. “We were flying under fire. I don’t think there is any chapter in the books on how to operate an airline under fire,” she said. “Just imagine what it is like to have a civilian airline share airspace with the Israeli Air Force during an active conflict. Combat pilots were telling us where we could fly, or what routes we should use.”
She noted that roughly 10% of El Al’s workforce—pilots, technicians, and other staff—were called to military service. Simultaneously, the airline faced constant GPS disruptions and safety threats, with daily risk assessments conducted by the management team to determine how to safely continue operations.
El Al expanded flights to US despite war and uncertainty
Despite these hurdles, El Al not only maintained its US flight schedule—it expanded it. “The routes to the US are our biggest routes… and even during the war, we added more frequent flights,” she said, adding, “The Jewish community here is very important to Israel and to El Al.”
Brownstone also discussed the airline’s future. “We purchased more 787s from Boeing… and during the war, we had the biggest deal in El Al’s history for more aircraft, which was already announced, and hopefully we will be receiving those aircraft in 2028.”
“We are also improving our customer experience and new technologies,” she concluded, adding, “at El AL, we are always with our face towards new experiences for our customers."
This article was written as part of media coverage of the Jerusalem Post’s New York Conference