New York, NY – October 27, 2009 – The Board of Directors of EL AL Israel Airlines has announced the appointment of Brigadier General Elyezer Shkedi as the airline’s new president & CEO.  Shkedi will replace Haim Romano, who has resigned after holding that position for the past five years.

"I see the leadership of EL AL as a compelling challenge and I love challenges,” says Brigadier General Elyezer Shkedi. “I believe that EL AL is a strategic asset to the State of Israel and has meaningful significance for all Israelis and for people around the globe."

Shkedi, who is a fighter pilot, will prepare to take over as president in January of 2010.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Mathematics and Computer Science from Ben Gurion University in Israel and a Masters of Arts (MA) in Systems Management from the Naval Post Graduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California.  Shkedi most recently served as Commander-in-Chief of the Israeli Air Force for four years and joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1975.

Amikam Cohen, Chairman of the EL AL Board of Directors, along with the board members are grateful to Haim Romano for all his successful efforts at advancing EL AL to a world class airline during the last five years.

For further information on EL AL Israel Airlines, please visit www.elal.com, or call at 1-800-223-6700.

About EL AL
Celebrating more than 60 years of service, EL AL, Israel's national airline, offers the most nonstop flights between New York (JFK/Newark) and Israel as well as the only nonstop service from Los Angeles.  Worldwide, EL AL flies to more than 40 destinations from Israel and serves dozens of other destinations throughout the world via partnerships with many other carriers (including 22 additional cities in the U.S.A.). Only EL AL has First Class service on nonstop flights between the U.S.A. and Israel. The airline has annual revenues of about $1.93 billion and carries more than 1.8 million passengers every year.  

EL AL embodies Israel’s values of innovation and caring and the promise of a genuine Israeli welcome.  Your Israel experience begins with EL AL and warm Israeli hospitality. Israeli flight attendants will make you feel at home, the best trained Israeli pilots will take you to and from Israel and passengers enjoy enhanced in-flight dining with freshly prepared healthy meals. 

EL AL. It’s not just an airline. It’s Israel.