Editing El Al (section)

==Security==
Israel's airport security measures were instituted in 1968 after the [[El Al Flight 426 hijacking]] by the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]]. It was the first aviation attack motivated by political aims.<ref name="Hasisi">{{cite journal |last1=Hasisi |first1=Badi |title=Ethnic Profiling In Airport Screening: Lessons From Israel, 1968-2010 |journal=[[American Law and Economics Review]] |date=Fall 2012 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=517–560 |doi=10.1093/aler/ahs009 |jstor=42705624 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42705624}}</ref>

El Al employs stringent security procedures, both on the ground and onboard its aircraft. These time-consuming procedures have won El Al's security reputation.<ref name=Vivienne /> In 2008, it was named by ''Global Traveler'' magazine as the world's most secure airline.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

===Onboard missile defense systems===
Certain El Al planes have been fitted with counter-measures against [[Surface-to-air missile|anti-aircraft missile]]s since the early 2000s, with the initial system known as [[Flight Guard]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Vause|first=John|title=Missile defense for El Al fleet|publisher=[[CNN]] |date= 24 May 2004|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/24/air.defense/|access-date=2007-11-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Williams |first=Dan |title=El Al Fits Fleet with Anti-Missile System |agency=Reuters |date=February 16, 2006 |url=http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=1540304&C=airwar |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120728104731/http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=1540304&C=airwar |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 28, 2012 |access-date=2007-11-30 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.iai.co.il/Default.aspx?docID=25873&FolderID=28973&lang=en&PageNum=3|title=IAI/Elta's "Flight Guard" Commercial Aircraft Protection System Funded|date=2003-09-08|publisher=[[Israeli Aerospace Industries]]}}</ref><ref name="antimissiles">{{cite news | url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=683390&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5 | title=El Al Airlines installs anti-missile systems on passenger aircraft| access-date=2007-05-07 | newspaper=Haaretz|quote=El Al, Israel's national carrier and largest airline|date=2006-02-15}}</ref> In 2014, El Al began to fit some of its planes that fly on more sensitive routes with an updated [[missile approach warning system]] (MAWS) that employs an infrared missile-tracking camera, an "infrared (IR), ultra-violet (UV), or radar missile-approach warning sensor to detect a missile launch in the very early stages of an attack" and a laser system to act as a counter-measure.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ferran|first=Lee|date=July 23, 2014|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/israeli-airline-missile-defenses-israel-us-carriers-wont/story?id=24684650|title=Israeli Airline With Missile Defenses Goes to Israel When US Carriers Won't|work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]}}</ref> In November 2014, under the Israeli government's SkyShield programme, [[Elbit]]'s Commercial Multi-Spectral Infrared Countermeasures (C-MUSIC) system was adopted by El Al.<ref>{{cite news |author=Jennings |first=Gareth |date=7 November 2014 |title=Israel adopts C-MUSIC missile protection system for national airliners |url=http://www.janes.com/article/45493/israel-adopts-c-music-missile-protection-system-for-national-airliners |work=IHS Jane's Defence Weekly |location=London}}</ref>

===Airport security measures===
There are four layers of airport security procedures in Israel: early detection outside the airport zone, airport access control, passenger and baggage screening, and on-board security. In the first layer, El Al Staff screen passenger lists before passengers' arrival at the airport.<ref name="Hasisi" />

At Israel's [[Ben Gurion Airport]], plainclothes and uniformed agents monitor the premises for explosives, suspicious behavior, and other threats. Armed security personnel also patrol El Al terminals overseas. Inside the terminal, passengers and their baggage are checked by a trained team. El Al security procedures require that all passengers be interviewed individually prior to boarding, allowing El Al staff to identify possible security threats. Passengers are asked questions about their place of origin, the reason for their trip, their job or occupation, and whether they have packed their bags themselves.

Passengers have to show up at the airport three hours before their flight, to be checked at a barrier on the road to the terminal. [[Arabs]], including [[Arab citizens of Israel|Israeli Arab]] citizens, are checked more stringently than any other ethnic group.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Silver |first=Eric |date=2006-08-14 |title=Flying under the eagle eyes of El Al's famed high security |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/flying-under-the-eagle-eyes-of-el-als-famed-high-security/FE65IFVBJ7EEYNP3TYVHTYCDPY/?c_id=2&objectid=10396216 |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |language=en-NZ}}</ref> At the check-in counter, passengers' [[passport]]s and tickets are closely examined. A passport without a sticker from the security checkers will not be accepted. At passport control, passengers' names are checked against information from the [[FBI]], [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]] (CSIS), [[Scotland Yard]], [[Shin Bet]], and [[Interpol]] databases. Luggage is screened and sometimes hand searched. In addition, bags are put through a decompression chamber simulating pressures during flight that could trigger explosives.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.segl.com/xj.php |title=El Al Decompression Chamber |access-date=2016-05-15 |publisher=Simcoe Engineering Group Limited |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518105847/http://www.segl.com/xj.php |archive-date=May 18, 2008 }}</ref> Even at overseas airports, El Al security agents conduct all luggage searches personally, even if they are supervised by government or private security firms.<ref>{{cite news|title= El Al wants to do own bag screening at Newark|newspaper= USA Today|agency= Associated Press|date=2006-05-12|url= https://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2006-05-12-el-al-security_x.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140723210156/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2006-05-12-el-al-security_x.htm|archive-date=2014-07-23}}</ref>

===Flight security measures===
Undercover agents (sometimes referred to as [[sky marshal]]s) carrying concealed firearms sit among the passengers on every international El Al flight.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2097352.stm | title=El Al sets security standards | date=2002-07-05| access-date=2007-05-07 | work=[[BBC News]] }}</ref> Most El Al pilots are former [[Israeli Air Force]] pilots.<ref name="Security">{{cite news|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/09/26/rec.el.al.security |title=Model for air travel security may be El Al |date=2001-09-26 |access-date=2007-05-07 |work=[[CNN]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070624055720/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/09/26/rec.el.al.security/ |archive-date=2007-06-24 }}</ref>{{refn|Most, but not all, El Al's pilots are former pilots of the [[Israeli Air Force]]. An article dedicated to an El Al female captain can be found at [https://web.archive.org/web/20111007212602/http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/137646/ "With Yom Haatzmaut Festivities, a Gender Barrier Is Broken"], The Sisterhood, ''[[The Forward]]''. |group=note}} The cockpits in all El Al aircraft have double doors to prevent entry by unauthorized persons. A code is required to access the doors, and the second door will open only after the first has closed and the person has been identified by the captain or first officer.<ref name="Security" /> Furthermore, there are reinforced steel floors separating the passenger cabin from the baggage hold.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10396216 | title=Flying under the eagle eyes of El Al's famed high security | access-date=2006-08-15 | newspaper=[[New Zealand Herald]] |last=Silver |first=Eric| date=2006-08-15}}</ref>

In April 2013, the Israeli government increased payments to El Al to secure 97.5% of the airline's security costs ahead of the Open Skies agreement to take effect in 2014 with the [[European Union]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/breaking-news/israel-increases-el-al-security-payments-end-strike-over-open-skies-deal |title=Israel Increases El Al Security Payments To End Strike Over Open Skies Deal |publisher=The Jewish Week |date=2013-04-22 |access-date=2013-07-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501040729/http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/breaking-news/israel-increases-el-al-security-payments-end-strike-over-open-skies-deal |archive-date=2013-05-01 }}</ref>