Sun d'Or International Airlines

Infobox Airline
airline=Sun d'Or

logo_size=150
fleet_size=2
destinations=Varies
IATA=2U
ICAO=ERO
callsign=ECHO ROMEO
parent=El Al Israel Airlines Limited
company_slogan
founded=1977
headquarters=Tel Aviv, Israel
hubs=Ben Gurion Int'l Airport
focus_cities=
frequent_flyer=Matmid
lounge=
key_people=Arnon Asherov, CEO
alliance=
security_features=
website= [http://www.sundor.co.il/sundor/init.do?LANG=EN http://www.sundor.co.il/]

Sun d'Or International Airlines Limited _he. סאן דור) is an Israeli charter airline with its hub at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport. It is a fully owned subsidiary of El Al Israel Airlines and operates regular, ad hoc, and seasonal passenger charters using aircraft leased from El Al. The airline is licenced for the commercial transport of passengers and cargo on charter flights to and from Israel and owns an Air Operator Certificate to operate two leased planes that are fully serviced by El Al's maintenance. Most of the airlines services are between Tel Aviv and European destinations.

History

Sun d'Or was established on 1 October 1977 as "El Al Charter Services Ltd.", as a subsidiary of El Al Israel Airlines at a time when the airline was fully owned by the State. The airline changed its name in 1981 to "Sun D’Or" (D’Or means “of Gold” in French), and soon after, Uriel Yashiv, the CEO of the airline at the time, chose to add “International Airlines” to the airline's name to create Sun D'Or International Airlines. This additional qualification is not used in Hebrew, however, and both aircraft flown by the company bear solely the "Sun D'Or - סאן דור" title.

Since April 2001, Sun D'Or has grown to become a significant player in the Israeli charter market. The airline also operates flights for incoming tourists, on behalf of European and Israeli operators. In January 2005, Sun D'Or became a private company following the privatisation of El Al.

Sun D’Or International Airlines remains to this day a fully-owned subsidiary company of El Al Israel Airlines and as such its passengers can take advantage of this association. Benefits include the ability for passengers to accumulate El Al frequent flyer points on Sun D'Or flights, and the supplying of food including all types of special meals through Tamam-Catering, an El-Al Subsidiary. El Al also provides ground services, air crews and aircraft for Sun D'Or.

Destinations

Sun D'Or does not fly domestic flights, and as a charter airline, operates to a wide range of destinations, including:

*Austria
**Linz (Blue Danube Airport)
*Bulgaria
**Sofia (Sofia Airport)
*Croatia
**Rijeka (Rijeka Airport)
*Denmark
**Copenhagen (Copenhagen Airport)
*Finland
**Helsinki (Helsinki-Vantaa Airport)
*France
**Paris (Charles de Gaulle International Airport)
*Republic of Macedonia
**Ohrid (Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport)
*Germany
**Munich (Munich International Airport)
*Greece
**Athens (Athens International Airport)
**Crete (Heraklion International Airport, "Nikos Kazantzakis")
**Kos
**Mycenae
**Rhodes (Rhodes International Airport, "Diagoras")
**Santorini
*Israel
**Tel Aviv (Ben Gurion International Airport) Hub
*Italy
**Milan (Malpensa International Airport)
**Rome (Leonardo da Vinci International Airport)
**Turin
**Verona
*Lithuania
**Vilnius
*The Netherlands
**Amsterdam (Schiphol Airport)
*Poland
**Warsaw (Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport)
**Katowice (Katowice International Airport)
**Łódź
*Russia
**Moscow
*Slovenia
**Ljubljana
*Spain
**Barcelona
**Madrid
*Switzerland
**Geneva
*Turkey
**Antalya
**Bodrum
**Dalaman
*United Kingdom
**London (London Heathrow Airport, Stansted)

Fleet

Sun D'Or International Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of 3 October 2008) [ [http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?aircraft=-2&airline=Sun+d%27Or+International+Airlines&country=-2&photog=-2&category=-2&year=-2&keywordrange=all&keywordlimiter=2&keywords=&sort=1&genre=1&size=-2&mainsearch=search&displaymode=1&display=15 "Jet Photos"] ] :

External links

* [http://www.sundor.biz/eng/ Sun D'Or International Airlines]
* [http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/Sun-d'Or-International-Airlines Sun D'Or Fleet Detail]
* [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?airlinesearch=Sun%20d%60Or%20International%20Airlines&distinct_entry=true Sun D'Or aircraft pictures]

References