Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Photo: El Al Airlines.

El Al Airlines is the national airline of Israel. It is also in the middle of an ambitious connectivity program based on the new Boeing Dreamliners entering its fleet. Via Satellite spoke to Yahudit Grisaro, vice president of customer service, about the airline’s connectivity plans.

Grisaro will be speaking for the first time this year at the Global Connected Aircraft Summit 2017 during “The New Parameters of Measuring the Customer Experience” panel on June 8.

VIA SATELLITE: What is El Al’s roadmap for offering In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) services? What is your vision of the concept of the connected aircraft? What are the key plans for 2017?

Grisaro: We are in the beginning of a huge process regarding connectivity. We are supposed to have the Dreamliner coming into our fleet over the next few months. Between 2017 and 2020, we will have 16 Dreamliners in our fleet. When it comes to connectivity and entertainment, we are planning to have the best the industry can offer us. We understand that connectivity is part of the service and the expectations of passengers. There is the potential not only to provide those customers with the best that we can but also to use it to be much more efficient in many areas.

The expectation of passengers is that these systems will provide them with a great experience when they are up in the air. These new systems mean you won’t waste time. It is a great opportunity to interact with our passengers with no paper, in a very friendly and efficient way.

Yehudit Grisaro, El Al vice president of customer service. Photo: El Al.

VIA SATELLITE: Do you believe airlines have a lot to learn from other industries in terms of improving the overall passenger experience? Where do they need to get better?

Grisaro: When we are talking about passenger experience, we are talking about many layers. We are talking about the ability to provide professional service.  At this level, there is not a huge difference between the airlines because all of us need to be able to provide basic services. The next layer is how to put in the passenger experience your promise. For example, our promise to passengers is that we put in an Israeli atmosphere on the aircraft. We want the people to feel like they feel in their own homes. The second layer of experience is which activities and things you add to create that extra value for customers. It needs to be appropriate to your promise. In our experience, we make a big effort to deliver an Israeli atmosphere, so the majority of our customers will feel we are the right airline to fly with.

VIA SATELLITE: What are your main initiatives in terms of bringing improved services to customers here?

Grisaro: Service is like a duty; it is very hard to define. This is an excellent service. We don’t have an academic definition of what an excellent service is here. We are making a great effort to shape and re-shape the attitude of our people because at the end of the day, the interaction between our people and the passengers impacts the level of service dramatically. In this field, we are making a lot of efforts in terms of choosing the right people and guiding the people, not only in the beginning but also through all the services we are offering. We are encouraging our people to be excellent. We have another project where the customers are part of the effort to encourage excellent service. Passengers can give us a card if they have received excellent service from one of our staff. It is an example to encourage excellence in our service.

Grisaro: We are in beginning of renewing our fleet. So connectivity is part of the promise now for our passengers, because having new aircraft is not enough. We have to make sure these aircraft are equipped with the best technologies that you can provide. It is part of a new age in El Al. The Dreamliner is the main issue and connectivity is part of that.