EL AL Fleet – Historic – Boeing 707s

4X-ATA in original EL AL 707 livery upon rollout at Boeing, Renton, Washington, 28 March 1961. (EL AL Archive)

707-458 (Rolls-Royce Conway). MSN 18070/LN 205. Ordered 25 Mar 60. Rolled out 28 Mar 61. First flight 14 Apr 61. Registered as 4X-ATA, 28 Mar 61. Delivered to EL AL 22 Apr 61, named Shehecheyanu. Operated first nonstop service from New York to Tel Aviv, 15 Jun 1961. Hijacked by Arab terrorists to Algeria, 23 Jul 68, but returned to EL AL without damage, 31 Aug 68. Withdrawn from use Mar 84, 61,228 total hours, 29m,021 cycles. Registration canceled 3 Sep 84. Partially broken up at Ben-Gurion Airport Jul 84. Airframe saved for several years and (with the cockpit from MSN 18056) used at Ben-Gurion as an EL AL training and instruction center. Original cockpit preserved, donated to Intrepid Air & Sea Museum and displayed starting Apr 85 aboard the aircraft carrier CVS-11/USS Intrepid, Pier 49, Hudson River, New York City, and since April 2000 cockpit is on display at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, Mitchel Field, Garden City, Long Island, New York.

4X-ATB at Paris-Orly, June 1962. (Mel Lawrence photo)

707-458 Rolls-Royce Conway). MSN 18071/LN 216. Ordered 25 Mar 60. Registered as 4X-ATB, 28 Mar 61. Rolled out 12 May 61. First flight 3 Jun 61. Delivered to EL AL 7 Jun 61. Survived a foiled attempted hijack by Arab terrorists, 6 Sep 70 (‘Black September’ when three aircraft of other airlines were simultaneously hijacked and blown up at Dawson Field, Jordan). Leased to Arkia 1 Apr 84–13 Jul 86; active service with Arkia 4 Apr 84 – 6 Jul 86. Sold to Boeing Co. as N32824, 2 Sep 86. Registration N130KR reserved to S J McGraw, 9 Oct 86. Boeing donated this 707 to Lufthansa to mark nearly 30 years of business and the delivery of a 200th Boeing (a 737-300) to Lufthansa on 21 Nov 86. In turn, Lufthansa passed the gift to the Museum fur Verkehr und Technik in Berlin. Painted in quasi-original Lufthansa colors and delivered from Tel Aviv to Frankfurt, 20 Nov 86 (as 4X-ATB) with titles and tail logo covered. Canceled from Israeli registry 20 Nov 86, sold to Boeing Operations International 21 Nov 86, re-registered N130KR and ferried same day to Berlin-Tegel Airport. Displayed at Berlin-Tegel with German identity D-ABOC. From 1998 it was left in abandoned condition in a remote part of Berlin-Tegel. Broken up on 10 May 2021.

4X-ATC in second EL AL 707 livery, in use during 1965 to early 1971, featuring different ‘EL AL’ lettering and revised flying star logo designed by George Him, at Tel Aviv – Lod (Ben-Gurion), about 1970. (Micha Sender photo)

707-458 (Rolls-Royce Conway). MSN 18357/LN 272. Ordered Feb 61. Rolled out 18 Jan 62. First flight 9 Feb 62. Delivered to EL AL and registered as 4X-ATC, 13 Feb 62. Transferred to EL AL Charter Services, 1 Apr 79. Israeli registration canceled 29 Jan 80. Sold to Zaire Aero Service as 9Q-CPM, 14 Feb 80. Re-registered 9Q-CWR to Wolf Aviation, Nov 83, and to R. Waynns, 1985. Withdrawn from use following landing accident at Isiro, Zaire, Jul 84. Broken up at Kinshasa Jan 86.

4X-ATD in third EL AL 707 livery adopted March 1971 and designed by Dan Reisinger, at Amsterdam-Schiphol, May 1982. (Dietrich Eggert Photo, CC-BY-SA-4.0)

707-331B (Advanced). MSN 18985/LN 496. Rolled out 20 Apr 66. First flight 18 May 66. Delivered to Trans World Airlines 21 May 66 as N18709. Purchased by EL AL, and registered as 4X-ATD, 23 Apr 82. Delivered to EL AL 26 Apr 82, entered service 30 Apr 82. Leased to Arkia 1 Apr 85, entered service Tel Aviv-Paris (Orly) 21 Apr 85. Returned to EL AL and registration canceled 29 Jan 89, as sold to Hartford Power Systems, Inc., 26 Jan 89. Re-registered N707HP, 8 Feb 89, and ferried to U.S. for USAF KC-135E parts.

4X-ATE at Paris-Orly, September 1983. (Jacques Guillem photo via John Wegg)

707-328B. MSN 18456/LN 325. Rolled out 9 Oct 62. First flight 3 Dec 62. Delivered to Air France 15 Dec 62 as F-BHSV, named Château de Vincennes. Purchased by Tratco 11 Apr 83. Leased by Air Supply Corp, re-registered as 4X-ATE, and sub-leased to EL AL, 17 Jul 83. Returned to Air Supply Corp and Israeli registration canceled 10 Oct 83.

4X-ATR in livery of EL AL subsidiary Sun d’Or at Dusseldorf, 31 April 1982. (Dietrich Eggert photo, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

707-358B (Advanced). MSN 19004/LN 459. Ordered 15 Sep 64. Registered as 4X-ATR, 30 Oct 65. Rolled out 8 Nov 65. First flight 10 Dec 65. Delivered to EL AL 7 Jan 66. Leased to Flying Tiger Line 7 Jan 66 as N317F, and wet-leased (with crew) back to EL AL. Reverted to EL AL 3 Oct 66 as 4X-ATR. Damaged in terrorist attack at Athens, 26 Dec 68; repaired. Leased Aug 81 to Sun d’Or, first service 29 Aug 81 Tel Aviv-Düsseldorf; returned to EL AL 1 May 82. Leased to Arkia 6 Jan 87. Returned to EL AL, and last service Madrid-Tel Aviv 14 Apr 88. Sold to Jet Aviation Components & Aircraft, 19 Apr 88; Israeli registration canceled 15 Apr 88.

4X-ATS near EL AL hangar at Tel Aviv – Ben-Gurion. (Marvin G. Goldman photo)

707-358B (Advanced). MSN 19502/LN 551. Ordered Jul 66. Registered as 4X-ATS, 17 Jan 67. Rolled out 19 Dec 66. First flight 23 Jan 67. Delivered to EL AL 2 Feb 67. Leased to Arkia 24 Apr 87 – 7 Oct 88. Registration canceled 20 Nov 88, sold to Omega Air as N898WA but not taken up. Re-registered as 4X-ATS to Israel Aircraft Industries 29 Jan 89. Registration canceled 23 May 89, sold to Royal Aviation System.

4X-ATT at Dusseldorf, June 1978, showing 30th anniversary logo of the State of Israel. (Dietrich Eggert photo, CC-BY-SA-4.0)

707-358B (Heavy). MSN 20097/LN 779. Ordered Oct 67. Registered as 4X-ATT, 1 Aug 68. Rolled out 6 Dec 68. First flight 15 Jan 69. Delivered to EL AL 22 Jan 69. Leased to Arkia 11 Apr 88 – 31 May 88. Sold to Jet Aviation Components & Aircraft; Israeli registration canceled, 9 Jun 88.

4X-ATX at Paris-Orly. ( Jacques Guillem photo via John Wegg)

707-358C (Heavy). MSN 20122/LN 807. Ordered 5 Dec 67. Registered as 4X-ATU, 1 Aug 68, but not taken up. Re-registered as 4X-ATX, 9 Jan 69. Rolled out 2 Apr 69. First flight 6 May 69. Delivered to EL AL 15 May 69. Damaged at Tel Aviv, 30 Jul 80; repaired. Leased to Arkia 12 Oct 86 – 5 Jan 87, and again from 20 Apr 87. Returned to EL AL, and hush-kitted by Tracor, Santa Barbara, CA, 4 Jan-Feb 88, returned to service 12 Feb 88. Leased to Arkia 14 Feb 88. Last service 28 Dec 92. Sold to Israel Aircraft Industries 20 Jul 94.

4X-ATY at Paris-Orly. (Jacques Guillem photo via John Wegg)

707-358C (Heavy; first 707 built with Boeing Carousel III INS). MSN 20301/LN 835. Ordered Oct 68. Rolled out 19 Dec 69. First flight 20 Jan 70. Delivered to EL AL 26 Jan 70, and registered as 4X-ATY, 28 Jan 70. Leased 1 May 82 – 7 Jul 86 to Sun d’Or. Hush-kitted at Tel Aviv, 88. Leased to Arkia 9 Mar 88-91. Sold to World Jet Aircraft 28 Mar 91.

Note: EL AL leased several other Boeing 707s from time to time. Examples include Dash 441 PP-VJB from VARIG (Brazil) (Dec 60-May 61); Dash 349Cs N324F (Apr-Aug 68) and N325F (Aug-Dec 68) from Flying Tiger Line; Dash 321 G-AYBJ from British Midland Airways (Aug-9 Sep 72); Dash 329 4X-BYM from Israel Aircraft Industries (77); Dash 138B N792FA from F B Ayer & Associates via Israel Aircraft Industries (13 Mar-1 Nov 78);and Dash 323B 4X-ATG from Arkia (90).

Last updated 2 November 2021.