Airline: | UP by El Al |
Iata: | LY |
Icao: | ELY |
Callsign: | EL AL |
Founded: | November 2013 |
Ceased: | 14 October 2018 |
Bases: | Ben Gurion Airport[1] |
Fleet Size: | 4 |
Destinations: | 6[2] |
Key People: | Israel "Izzy" Borovich |
Website: | flyup.com |
Up (styled as UP by EL AL) was a low-cost airline brand of Israeli El Al.[3] El Al announced in January 2018 that UP would cease operations in October 2018 to be remerged into El Al.
On 26 November 2013, El Al unveiled its new low-cost airline Up,[4] [5] which commenced operations on 30 March 2014, initially to Berlin, Budapest, Kyiv, Larnaca and Prague[4] using five Boeing 737-800s transferred from the El Al mainline fleet.[4] Up was founded by its parent El Al to be used on some routes to Europe where it replaced El Al itself. All flights of Up are operated by El Al, using El Al's call sign and codes with a four digit number.[4] For flights over two hours the airline offers a buy on board service.[6]
In August 2014, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary wanted to develop a Ryanair Israel, connecting Israel with cities across Europe. He said an inhibiting factor in the plan was Israeli authorities protectiveness of El Al from competition. [7]
In January 2018 it was announced that El Al were to discontinue the Up brand. Up was planned to cease operations by October 2018 and all flights and aircraft would return to El Al.[8] El Al therefore introduced a new fare structure to replace the Up offers.[9] The last flights took place on 14 October 2018.
As of 2023, some El Al aircraft that were formerly part of Up still have the cloud livery.
Up served the following destinations until 14 October 2018:[10]