El Al’s retrofitted 777s will take to the skies soon, with flights from Tel Aviv to Bangkok and Paris scheduled for August 1st. London flights are also expected soon.
Taking a selfie in June 2022 with El Al’s 777-200 4X-ECE, nicknamed “Sderot,” last June at Natbag. “Sderot” was delivered to El Al on 7/26/07 and was parked in July 2020 as the airline froze operations due to COVID.
The 777-200ER currently has 6 first class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, 25 business class seats in a 2-3-2 configuration, 34 extra legroom space seats in a 3-3-3 configuration, and 204 coach seats in a 3-3-3 configuration. That’s a total of 279 seats.
The retrofitted 777-200ER (PDF mapping here) will have 28 business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, 32 premium economy in a 2-4-2 configuration, 63 extra legroom space seats in a 3-4-3 configuration, and 190 coach seats in a 3-4-3 configuration. That’s a total of 313 seats.
You can tell if you’re on a retrofitted 777 by looking at the seat map.
Here is the old 777:
And here is the retrofitted 777:
If you see a Premium cabin for sale, that’s a giveaway that’s either a Dreamliner or retrofitted 777:
The retrofit marks the official end of El Al’s First Class seating, which never had a competitive hard product on El Al, but was known for very good service.
The coach seats will be much tighter than the old 3-3-3 configuration, but that matches what most other airlines have done with the 777s in coach. It’s unfortunate, but was expected.
The business class and premium class seats will be similar to El Al’s Dreamliner. United has similar business class seats and theirs are bigger on the 777 than on the 787, so we’ll have to see if that’s also the case for El Al.
Interestingly, El Al’s Dreamliner business class has airbag seatbelts while the 777 business class will have shoulder strap seatbelts like United has on all their Polaris seats. I find airbag seatbelts to be uncomfortable, so that’s a plus. Unfortunately, El Al tells me that regulations still won’t allow for infant carseats in either their 777 or 787 business class seat.
The plane will have the Dreamliner’s entertainment system and WiFi installed as well. The 777s will also have USB-C charging.
While other airlines are adding more business class seats to retrofitted planes, El Al is not going in that direction, with the 777 having fewer business class than their 787-9 Dreamliner’s 32 business class seats. That itself is also premium-light compared to United’s 48 business class seats on the 787-9, which United is finding to be not enough as it is. United plans on adding many more business class seats on future 787-9 and 787-10 deliveries to keep up with premium cabin demand.
However, El Al will focus the 777 on Bangkok, London, and Paris, which see lower business class demand than the Dreamliner operated US routes.
What are your thoughts on the 777 retrofit?
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28 Comments On "El Al’s Retrofitted 777 Takes To The Skies In 2 Weeks"
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Are those bullet holes or shrapnel near the nose?
Yes, one of the ways Elal routinely tests their planes for anti terror is to have scheduled shootings of the nose.
Jonny whoops
Lmao
B777/737/767/787 capt here. Those are called the pitot tube. It helps to measure speed and velocity as well as other data. Good day.
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Nightmareliner for economy travelers.
What did u cover in yellow
That looks like a dust cover over the engine
That is a cloth engine cover/tarp, typical when a plane is being toured my non airline personnel.
Gotta keep things from getting in their.
was expecting a shtibel with aron kodesh
and large coffee room to kibetz
from a retrofit
This Friday 7/21 LY from CDG to TLV is flying the 777 so I would assume it’s coming in the same morning
That’s a non-retrofitted 777
Pretty cool to see the engineering video of them putting the interior together. Takes a talented team
During the shared video it states “updating with the most advance technology in the aviation industry”, I guess this refers to pushing in another seat per row….
I’m on the TLV-BKK august 1 flight
Nice, let us know how it goes!
They switched the aircraft type for tlv-Bkk flight. I got downgraded from premium to economy because of it
According to ELAL the retrofit cost the Airlines a whopping 50 million USD
And plans to do the same to the other 3 b777-200 in its fleet,
Wouldn’t it make more sense to simply selloff the near twenty year old aircraft and replace them with B787-10?
USD50m for one plane or the whole 772 fleet? If for one plane then that’s a fair question, but if it’s for all or most of the 6 772’s in their fleet than ~8.3m USD is much cheaper than a brand new 78X
I understand why some people probably aren’t too happy about the retrofit as it will make economy seating more of a squeeze, but personally, anything that increases business class capacity makes me happy. That being said, I’m also happy that they’re not making the new cabin too large, as I enjoyed the experience of being in a smaller more exclusive business cabin when I flew El Al on their 789, compared to the larger Polaris cabin on United’s 78X I flew a few days later. Another interesting contrast between the 2 was the lack of any barrier on the floor between the middle (honeymoon) seats on El Al as opposed to United where the barrier went to about hip level. I preferred the El Al seats in that case as I was with my wife but I guess United’s seats would’ve been preferable if I was solo although then I would’ve taken a window seat. I wonder what that will look like on the LY 777.
i think the yellow patches on the motors is the required covid 19 n95 masks….
Interesting how they can afford these upgrades but they can’t keep flying to Toronto 🙁 Nobody understands it. The planes were always full. Now we have only ONE option per day on AC. Planes are always full, prices high, and you can’t always get even an economy seat when you need. Come back ElAl!
Filling a plane is easy, but it doesn’t make it profitable. Toronto pricing was consistently lower than US pricing. With a limited fleet, they prioritize routes that are more profitable.
The 2-4-2 in Premium is a bit dense compared to today’s 2-3-2.
The 1-2-1 in J should be really spacious. It doesn’t seem that they chose wider seats but at least the aisles will be wider
2-4-2 is the typical 777 Premium configuration. But yes, less ideal than the 787.
Sderot 4X-ECE was built in 2007 so has plenty of years of service left hence the refit was worth it. Other 777s are from 2001-2002 probably not…I returned in March from LHR on LY318 night flight on a tired old 777 without IFE-but the old seats were oh so comfortable. Note other airlines like BA have 777s from 1995-1997 still running them all over the world. On their LGW caribeean routes they have revamped theri Economoy sections to 3-4-3 pretty tight!
I’m surprised they aren’t putting these on the NYC routes. Airports are slot controlled. How come they can’t fill these planes?