El Al 742, 1991

From the Cargo Facts Archives!

October has been an extremely busy month, so there hasn’t been much action in “Aircraft Action” – but more is coming!

It’s the fall of 1991 and El Al’s 4X-AXF is (msn: 21594) loading at TLV (Ben Gurion International Airport).

4X-AXF served its entire career with El Al (though it was sometimes leased to C.A.L. Cargo Airlines of Israel), being delivered new as a -200 Combi in the summer of 1978.

Earlier in 1991 several El Al aircraft were involved in what became known as “Operation Solomon” – including 4X-ACF’s sister ship, 4X-ACD. 4X-ACD became a record holder during the humanitarian evacuation of Ethiopian Jews to Israel, flying 1,087 “official” passengers (the real number was over 1,100) on a flight between Addis Ababa and TLV – the largest number of passengers ever transported on any flight.

4X-ACD became the Hydro-Air 742 that was damaged at Lagos in 2003 and ultimately scrapped.

4X-ACF served loyally right up until last year. It was broken up at TLV in July, 2009.

Click on the photo to see it at full size (scanned from a print – it’s grainy).