El Al Unveils 1960s-Inspired Retro Livery on Its Newest 787

Israel's flag carrier El Al has had a lot to celebrate in recent months. In October 2017, it launched service of its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, in January it announced that it'll launch nonstop flights between Tel Aviv (TLV) and San Francisco (SFO) and in July it began offering free high-speed Wi-Fi on board. Above all, the airline is turning 70 in September. And to celebrate, it's going retro.

In honor of the anniversary, El Al painted its newest Dreamliner with the same livery its Boeing 707s had in the 1960s. This is the airline’s first special livery of the type since switching to its current livery in 1999.

The plane, registered 4X-EDF, is still at Boeing's Everett factory in Washington and is expected to be delivered to El Al in August. As with El Al's other planes, it will be named after an Israeli city — in this case, Rehovot, a city located just south of Tel Aviv. This will be El Al's sixth Dreamliner in its fleet.

Although it may sport a classic livery, the 787-9 is the most modern aircraft in El Al's all-Boeing fleet. And rest assured, the interior of the aircraft will match that of other Dreamliners in the carrier's fleet. The 787-9s feature 282 seats in a comfortable three-class configuration: business, premium economy and economy. The new planes are being used to replace now-outdated 747 and 767 aircraft on El Al’s medium- and long-range destinations, such as New York, Boston, Toronto, Beijing, Mumbai, Johannesburg and others. They will also be used to operate the carrier's new flight to San Francisco.

This isn't the first time an airline has painted its plane with a retro design. Stay tuned for a complete round-up of all the planes currently in the skies with older liveries.

All photos by Timothy Stake / Boeing unless otherwise noted.