EL AL Israel Airlines – Labels (Stickers)
By Marvin G. Goldman
Since EL AL’s first scheduled flight in July 1949, it has issued numerous labels (sometimes called stickers) for promotional and identification purposes. Airline labels appeal to aviation enthusiasts as they form a historical record of the development of an airline’s logos and advertising themes.
I have more than 200 different EL AL labels in my collection, and even more exist. Each has an adhesive side, typically on the back, for placement on baggage, cargo, stationery and other items, while a few have adhesive on the front for affixing to windows. This article features a selection of some of my favorites.
EL AL’s earliest labels feature its first logo: a six-pointed star with added flying wings, designed by the noted Israeli artist, Franz Krausz. The six-pointed star has served as a Jewish symbol for several centuries, and some say it recalls the star symbol on the shield of the most famous Israelite monarch, King David. The star has adorned the tails of each EL AL aircraft since the founding of the airline shortly after the birth of the modern State of Israel in 1948. The logo with added flying wings remained EL AL’s principal logo from 1949 until the creation of the EL AL “block” logo in 1962.
Let’s start with EL AL’s first four non-cargo labels.
Reproductions of this label (and of the next two shown) are also being sold, so if you want an original, check the description carefully.
This label is still fairly common, but less common than the first one.
There are two printings of this label, with different type fonts
and wing details.
The one shown is by Artone Press and is uncommon. The other
printing is by Rand Litho and is fairly common.
Uncommon.
EL AL started all-cargo flights in 1950 and introduced several cargo label types to give
special handling instructions and to identify cargo destinations.
Other such labels stated “Danger. Do not load in passenger
planes”; “Must Ride. Do not offload on route”; ‘Fragile”; and “With Care”.
Each is very uncommon.
destination would be filled in by a printed stamp or handwriting. 10.2x14cm.
Very uncommon.
On the right is the style of EL AL’s cargo destination label that replaced the left
one later in the 1950s and into the 1960s. 10.2×14.5cm. These have the destination
pre-printed.
I have 17 different destinations in this set – Amsterdam, Athens, Cologne,
“Diseldorf”, Geneve, Hamburg, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Munich, New York,
Nicosia, Paris, Rome, Teheran, Vienna and Zurich — and there probably are more.
Uncommon.
In 1962 Otto Treuman of the Netherlands and George Him, EL AL’s design consultant, created a new block logo for EL AL that became its principal logo, and soon thereafter EL AL revised its 707 tail label to include the block
logo as seen on the right.
The left label is uncommon.
The right one was included in seat packets in-flight and is more common.
Uncommon.
6.5×11.5cm. Very uncommon.
Uncommon.
Similar to a series of EL AL destination posters designed in the late 1960s by noted
Israeli artist Dan Reisinger, where one of the letters in “EL AL” is transformed into a
symbol of the destination. This label also was issued in poster form. 18×15.5cm.
Very uncommon.
Here Srulik. as an EL AL Captain, offers a flower welcoming visitors to Israel.
Probably issued in the 1970s. 4×4.5cm. Uncommon.
747 bearing the EL AL “linear” logo designed by Israeli artist Dan Reisinger. 25x5cm.
The “linear” logo intertwines the English and Hebrew words for EL AL using the
typefaces of the separate English and Hebrew block logos. The overall label design
was created by Israeli artist Effi Ryvkind. This label also exists with Hebrew text and no
747 aircraft, and another variation was issued as a poster.
Very uncommon.
Bible. 37.5×9.5cm. and 37.5x9cm.
Very uncommon.
Fairly common.
These scenes were also produced in postcard and poster form. Each label is 4×2.2cm.
Fairly common.
Fairly common.
Uncommon.
Very uncommon.
The label also exists without the 40th-anniversary logo, and both variants were also issued in see-through form with adhesive on the front for affixing to windows. 22.5x9cm.
Each variation is common.
dark blue, and by having the cheatline on all its 747s come to a point near the nose to conform with that change already introduced on its other aircraft types. 19.7×12.4cm.
Fairly common.
This label promoting Eilat was probably issued in the early 2000s. 10cm. diameter.
Uncommon.
Uncommon.
Uncommon.
Uncommon.
Article text copyright 2023, Marvin G. Goldman. All images from the author’s collection.
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