Airlines: Over the Sea, Ethnically

Nineteen airlines fly the North Atlantic and strive to seem different -though their planes are much the same and they charge fares, fly schedules and serve meals that are of agreed-upon similarity. To provide the margin that makes a customer prefer one to another, the airlines labor over service, atmosphere and safety performance. More and more, their admen also stress national characteristics—U.S. flying experience, French cooking, British reliability. Since the majority of transatlantic customers are American, most of the foreign lines try to appeal to their old-country loyalties. With two of the biggest blocs to draw on, Ireland’s Aer Lingus and Israel’s El Al are reaping an ethnic harvest. Once the two lines shared an Idlewild airport terminal that was fondly known as “Abie’s Irish Airline,” but booming business has forced them into separate quarters.

Fitting the Image. The Irish line, which started its New York run with leased Constellations in 1958, now has the highest load factor (65.6%) of any major airline over the Atlantic. It plays unabashedly on the chauvinism of U.S. Irishmen. “We try,” says one executive, “to fit the image Americans have of the Irish.” Fattening the image, creamy-cheeked stewardesses in heather-flecked tweeds or linens welcome passengers aboard “shamrock flights.” They feed them in first class on Royal Tara china with such delicacies as grilled Liffey salmon steaks, Irish coffee and Guinness stout. All the while, Irish jigs frolic over the intercom and the captain communicates in a bog-thickened brogue. Such blarney—and the practical advantage that the Irish government permits only state-owned Aer Lingus to land at Dublin as well as Shannon—last year accounted for earnings of $1,300,000 and a fourth year in the black on the transatlantic route.

Much the same appeal to sentiment is fostered by Israel’s government-controlled El Al (Hebrew for “to the sky”). On El Al’s 22 weekly trips over the 5,800 miles from New York to Tel Aviv, the passenger lists are 80% Jewish. El Al corners the groups with what it calls a “sales mating call.” The rabbinically supervised menu includes gefilte fish and bagels and lox; there are also potato pancakes for Hanukkah and matzo-ball soup for Passover. The airline enjoys a 55.9% load factor, last year made a $200,000 profit; this was not sensational, but it was better than most other state-owned lines, which are losing money.

Orthodox Lunches. For El Al, unlike Aer Lingus, the ethnic approach creates problems as well as customers. Obeying Jewish law, El Al loses 62 flying days annually by not operating in or out of Tel Aviv’s Lod Airport on the Sabbath and religious holidays. To meet orthodox dietary prohibitions, flights are scheduled so that Jewish passengers will not be stranded at mealtime in such nonkosher cities as Teheran and Athens. And at a cargo weight loss of 600 Ibs. each trip, El Al’s jets carry extra pots and double sets of plates for meat and dairy dishes. Extreme Orthodox Jews, like those of the Hasidim sect, still refuse to eat El Al’s meals. They are served box lunches from a special kitchen that meets their exacting standards.