Heading home for Pesach on a record-breaking flight
The historic first-ever El Al flight to Melbourne is now heading back to Tel Aviv carrying around 175 Israeli passengers home in time for Pesach.
Route home
The Dreamliner touched down earlier than expected at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport yesterday early evening bringing around 25 Australians home including young travellers who had been on Masa programs in Israel.
The flight was the longest-ever recorded by El Al.
The captain of the Dreamliner told Israeli embassy personnel that the flight took 16 and a half hours thanks to good tailwinds.
Coincidentally, the first commercial El Al flight using the Dreamliner on the non-stop route between Tel Aviv and Melbourne was scheduled to have been on April 2.
The captain of the Melbourne flight, Roni Shuv told Israeli media ahead of the flight: “It’s amazing to see the company taking up such an important project at such a complicated time.
We are eight of the company’s top captains leaving for Australia,” he explained. “It’s about 17 hours of flight and 40 hours of continuous work. The team will rotate shifts.”
He added: “We’re not staying in Australia to sleep. Everything is for the travellers and those who want to return to their families, and the most important thing is we will bring everyone back home.”
Mark Sofer, Israel’s ambassador to Australia tweeted: “The longest direct flight ever by El Al has just landed in Melbourne after flying almost 18 hours from Tel Aviv! Repatriating quite a number of Aussies and over 200 Israelis on the return flight. Israel’s Foreign Ministry, the Embassy in Canberra and El Al can be proud!”
The El Al Dreamliner at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport
