ISRAEL HAS 15 air carriers. Most are domestic, in-country air carriers, and a few others are cargo carriers or specialized - e.g., crop dusting or helicopter tour companies. There are at least 3 scheduled international airlines, alphabetically * El Al * Israir NONE of the Israeli international carriers is listed on the UK-based Skytrax list of "Top 100 Airlines." North Korea's Air Koryo is ranked last (#150) in the rating company's survey - it, like Arkia, El Al, and Israir, failed to make even the "Top 100" list.
ON THE OTHER HAND, many Arab airlines made the list. There probably will be no argument that at least two of the list leaders * Qatar Airways (1) treat their passengers as passengers once expected to be treated. Still, there ARE some Arab airlines that, like their Israeli counterparts failed to make the "Top 100" list. Missing are EgyptAir, Royal Air Maroc, and Royal Jordanian Airlines. According to the The Star article about North Korea's airline, the "SkyTrax ratings are focused on service and not safety." I have flown on several of the "Top 100" airlines as well as El Al. While I might not rank El Al as my favorite carrier - it's over priced and it no longer offers convenient flights from South Florida - it most assuredly would make my personal Top 20 list. (British Midland, thankfully no longer a scheduled carrier, would compete with North Korea's Air Koryo for the "World's Worst" carrier. I'm ready to explain why my Midland's flights were so bad.) My #2 son who frequently travels to the far corners of the world, likes Lufthansa (#12 on Skytrax' list) and the Spouse favors Iberia (#56). Iberia is OK for me, but the jaunt from the arrival gate to the departure gate in Madrid always is impossibly long. (My best U.S.-Israel flight was on KLM (#28) via Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.) Because of France's De Gaulle airport I try to avoid Air France (#15) and any flights that require a change of planes at that airport. Air France service is, in my opinion, nothing to write home about. I'm hardly a frequent flyer, but I have been flying commercial for a number of years; from tail draggers (e.g., DC-3) with real "box" lunches to Lockheed Super Constellations and L-1011s, now Boeing and Airbus jumbos. I'm not sure "bigger is better." I have flown on the no-longer-in-the-air Eastern, National, Pan American, and TWA, as well as several others that were "absorbed" by still-flying airlines (Northwest (Orient) merged with Delta and US Airways merged with American). I've had bad experiences with several of Skytrax' "Top 100": Alitalia (74), American (79), Delta (45), and United (60). El Al compares favorably with all of the "Top 100" on which I have hours in the air - and waiting on the ground. I have flown multiple times on each of the currently flying airlines. Although I realize some major mid-east carriers, particularly those of Israel's neighbors Egypt and Jordan, are absent from Skytrax' "Top 100", I still find it hard to accept that El Al and Arkia failed to make the list. No one ever has spilled coffee on me on El Al (it happened to another passenger on a KLM flight), no one gave my meal - with my name clearly marked on the box - to another passenger (British Midland). El Al never lost my luggage, unlike Delta and US Air regularly did when I was a consultant. El Al never left me stranded short of my destination and sent me on my way in an over-crowded jitney as United did. Lod, El Al's home base - much improved since my first El Al flight in 1975 - is an easy to navigate airport - with free WiFi; I think better than Madrid, Rome, London, and far, far better than Paris . From this passenger's limited in-flight experience, I think El Al should have made the "Top 100" list; that it didn't suggests something is rotten - not in Denmark but at Skytrax' UK headquarters.
* Turkish Airlines (4)
* Emirates (5)
* Etihad Airways (6)
