EL AL Fleet – Historic – Boeing 747-200s

Note: EL AL’s basic passenger type 747-200 was the model -200B.  In the model reference ‘-258B’, the ‘58’ is Boeing’s customer number for EL AL. The Series -200C is a convertible version of the -200B passenger type, and has an upward opening nose cargo door and redesigned interior permitting all-passenger, all-cargo, or mixed (Combi) passenger/cargo configuration, with a side cargo door being optional. The Series -200F is a pure-cargo aircraft with an upward opening nose cargo door and also with an optional side cargo door. The -100F is an all-cargo conversion of a -100 passenger 747 and has a side cargo door but no nose cargo door. 

4X-AXA in original 747-200 livery introduced in 1971, and with EL AL 40th anniversary logo, 1988/89.

747-258B. MSN 20135/LN 140. Ordered 25 Jan 1968. Rolled out 28 Apr 1971. First flight 15 May 1971. Delivered to EL AL, and registered as 4X-AXA, 26 May 1971. Withdrawn from service at Ben-Gurion Airport, Oct 1999 and used for ground and fire training. Broken up in Feb 2019.

4X-AXB undergoing night maintenance at Ben-Gurion Airport, 1989.
  (EL AL Archive)

747-258B. MSN 20274/LN 164. Ordered 25 Jan 1968. Rolled out 16 Sep 1971. First flight 29 Oct 71. Delivered to EL AL, and registered as 4X-AXB, 22 Nov 71. Converted to a special convertible freighter (‘SCF’) for use as either a cargo or passenger aircraft, fall 1990. Withdrawn from service and scrapped, Nov 2001. 

4X-AXC boarding passengers at Tel Aviv – Ben-Gurion, 30 April 1978.
(Marvin G. Goldman photo)

747-258B. MSN 20704/LN 212. First flight 5 Apr 1973 with test registration N1799B (this was first -200B with JT9D-7A engines and a MGTOW of 356,070kg/785,000lb). Delivered to EL AL, and registered as 4X-AXC, 18 Apr 1973. This was the 200th 747 to be delivered by Boeing (although the 212th built). Withdrawn from use and Israeli registration cancelled, 28 Oct 2001. Sold to the Israel Airports Authority for use as fire practice, and destroyed during fire practice at Ben-Gurion Airport, 30 June 2008.

4X-AXD on pre-delivery flight over the State of Washington.  (EL AL Archive)

747-258C. MSN 21190/LN 272. First flight 22 Oct 75. Delivered to EL AL 31 Dec 1975. Registered as 4X-AXD, 11 Apr 76. At times leased to and appeared in livery of C.A.L. (Cargo Air Lines). Transferred to Hydro Air of South Africa, and registered ZS-00S, 29 Oct 2000. Crashed at Lagos, Nigeria and damaged beyond repair, 29 Nov 2003.

4X-AXF at London-Heathrow, July 1988.
  (Norman Cox Photo via Benny Friend collection, CC-BY-SA-4.0).

747-258C. MSN 21594/LN 327. First flight 7 June 1978. Delivered to EL AL 16 June 1978. Registered as 4X-AXF 17 June 1978, and first arrived Tel Aviv 17 Jun 1978. At times leased to and appeared in livery of C.A.L. (Cargo Air Lines). Withdrawn from use August 2008, and broken up, July 2009.

4X-AXG at Everett, Washington, March 1979.  (EL AL Archive)

747-258F. MSN 21737/LN 362. First flight 7 Mar 1979. Delivered to EL AL 19 Mar 1979. First arrived Tel Aviv 20 Mar 1979. After takeoff from Amsterdam on cargo flight, right two engines broke off, and aircraft crashed into apartment complex in Amsterdam suburb with loss of all four on board and 39 on the ground, 4 Oct 1992.

4X-AXH landing at London-Heathrow, 10 April 2005.
(Dale Coleman photo, GNU Free Documentation License 1.2). This livery, with the line stripe coming to a point before the nose, and the ‘EL AL’ lettering changed from black and gold to light and dark blue, was first introduced in 1994 on EL AL’s newly acquired 747-400s. The 747-200s acquired the light and dark blue ‘EL AL’ lettering in 1994, and the pointed line stipe by March 1995.

747-258B. MSN 22254/LN 418. First flight 6 Dec 1979. Delivered to EL AL 21 Dec 1979 and registered 4X-AXH. To Boeing after Aug 1992 for installation of side loading cargo door and conversion to a special freighter. Redelivered from Boeing 14 Jan 1993 and re-entered commercial service, 21 Jan 1993.  Sold to Tesis Air Cargo and registered VP-BXC, 12 July 2006.

4X-AXK at Zurich-Kloten, 9 September 2008.
(Ronald Nussbaumer photo, GNU Free Documentation License 1.2).  

747-245F. MSN 22151/LN 478. First flight 3 Oct 80. Delivered to Flying Tiger Line as N816FT, 14 Oct 1980. Upon merger of Flying Tigers into Federal Express, reregistered as N635FE, 7 Aug 1989. Transferred to Singapore Airlines and reregistered as 9V-SQU, 6 Jul 1992. Purchased by EL AL and reregistered as 4X-AXK, 21 Jan 1995. Withdrawn from use, Feb 2010, and scrapped at Ben-Gurion Airport, 11 Oct 2011.

4X-AXL at Tel Aviv – Ben-Gurion. (EL AL Archive)

747-245F. MSN 22150/LN 476. First flight 22 Sep 1980. Delivered to Flying Tiger Line as N815FT, 3 Oct 1980. Upon merger of Flying Tigers into Federal Express, reregistered as N634FE, 7 Aug 1989. Transferred to Singapore Airlines and reregistered as 9V-SQT, 17 Jan 1992. Purchased by EL AL and reregistered as 4X-AXL, 21 Mar 1995. Withdrawn from use 11 Nov 2011 and stored at Ben-Gurion Airport. Later scrapped.

4X-AXM at Amsterdam-Schiphol, 19 April 2008. 
 (Aero Icarus photo, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

747-2B5B*F, MSN 22485/LN 513. First flight 6 Mar 1981. Delivered to Korean Air and registered HL7458, 13 Apr 1981. Converted by Boeing to freighter, 22 May 1992. Acquired by UTFC and reregistered as N285SW, 11 July 2002. Leased to Air Freight Express, and reregistered as VP-BRS, 29 Nov 2002. Returned to UTFC and reregistered as N285SW, 22 Jan 2003. Acquired by Cargo Air Lines and re-registered 4X-ICN, 26 Jun 2003. Acquired by EL AL and reregistered as 4X-AXM, 10 Dec 2004. Withdrawn from use and stored, 2008, and then transferred to the Israel Airports Authority and used for fire training. 

4X-AXQ at Zurich-Kloten, 22 September 2010.
(Aero Icarus photo, CC-BY-SA 2.0).

747-238B. MSN 20841/LN 233. First flight 28 Feb 1974. Delivered to QANTAS 22 Mar 1974 as VH-EBG City of Hobart. Purchased by EL AL, registered 4X-AXQ 7 May 1988, and delivered 8 May 1988. Leased to QANTAS, and re-registered as VH-EBG, 5 Sep 1988. Re-registered as 4X-AXQ, 23 May 1989 and returned to EL AL 2 Jun 1989.  Withdrawn from use in 2005 and scrapped, 2 Aug 2007.

4X-AXZ landing at Los Angeles, July 1989.

747-124 (F). MSN19735/LN 64. Delivered to Continental Airlines 12 Aug 1970 as a Series -124, N26863. Sold to Boeing 30 Oct 1975 and converted to freighter (-124 (F)). To Imperial Iranian Air Force 30 Oct 1975 with serial 5-291, later 5-8112. To Boeing as N8289V, 11 Apr 1977. Purchased by EL AL, 21 Jun 1977, and registered as 4X-AXZ. Leased to AVIANCA, and registered in Colombia as HK-2400, 21 Jul 1981. Reverted to EL AL, and re-registered as 4X-AXZ, July 1982. Operated by EL AL in AVIANCA colors for some time before being repainted in EL AL livery. Withdrawn from use, Mar 1999, and broken up July 1999.

Note: EL AL leased several Boeing 747s from time to time, including: N748WA (-200C) from World Airways (Jan—13 Mar 1977), N801FT, N803FT and N804FT from Flying Tiger Line (during 1977-1979), N93117 (-100) from GATX Leasing (8 Mar—24 Apr 1988), LX-DCV (-200F) from Cargolux (24 Dec 1992-94), LX-BCV (-200F) from Cargolux (94), and TF-ATH (-300) from Air Atlanta Iceland.