Israir Still Smelling Blood Despite El Al Agreement

TheYeshivaWorld.com reports an agreement between El Al and the Gedolim has been reached. No other updates have been posted yet. In the meantime Israir is not backing down - though they still fly on Shabbos to Europe.

A deal with El Al?
December 26th, 2006
At this time a letter was faxed to the Gedolei E”Y for their approval of the agreement between the Chaireidi Olam and El Al Airlines. It seems that El Al has agreed to the demands of the Gedolim not to fly on Shabbos. As soon as this agreement is signed it will be posted on Yeshivaworld.


Reuters reports:

'Sky Torah' Takes Flight for Israir Airlines

NEW YORK -- Israel's No. 2 carrier, Israir Airlines, is permanently installing a handwritten Torah scroll on board one of its aircraft, marking the first "Sky Torah" in aviation history, the airline said Wednesday.

The scroll, which was created for the airline in Aventura, Florida, will begin its journey to Israel on Thursday with a ceremony at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

At the ceremony, the Torah will be carried under a traditional chuppah, or canopy.

Israir expects the Sky Torah, as the carrier calls it, to be a welcome service for orthodox Jewish passengers on its flights between New York and Tel Aviv, a spokesman said.

The Torah will be housed in a compartment on the plane and will be accessible through a flight attendant.

A Torah scroll, made up of the Five Books of Moses, is the holiest book of Judaism. It takes about one year for a scribe to write a Torah scroll, the company said.

The airline, which operates four flights a week between New York and Tel Aviv, said the onboard Torah will enhance the prayers of its passengers at a time they are closer to God.

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One poster to the YW blog - that also posted this story wrote: "...now that Israir (an Israeli airline owned by entirely by Jews, that is michalel shabbes b’pharhesya every week) has a sefer torah on board, there can be layning on their shabbes morning flights. Let’s auction off shlishi..."