Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 7, 2026

Sundor

Sundor is an Israeli airline brand and former airline with its base at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of El Al, which uses the brand mainly for seasonal scheduled and charter services, mostly to European destinations. All of their flights are operated by El Al, as Sundor's own license was suspended in 2011.

Last revised
Jul 7, 2026
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Sundor
סאן דור
IATA ICAO Call sign
LY ELY ELAL
Founded1977 (1977)
HubsBen Gurion Airport
Frequent-flyer programMatmid
Fleet size6
Destinations17
Parent companyEl Al
HeadquartersTel Aviv, Israel
Key peopleOlga Alauof, President
Websiteelal.com

Sundor (Hebrew: סאן דור, previously styled as Sun d'Or) is an Israeli airline brand and former airline with its base at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of El Al, which uses the brand mainly for seasonal scheduled and charter services, mostly to European destinations. All of their flights are operated by El Al, as Sundor's own license was suspended in 2011.

History

The former Sundor logo before its rebranding in 2024. source ↗

Sundor was established on 1 October 1977 as El Al Charter Services Ltd., as a subsidiary of El Al 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 "Sundor - סאן דור" title.

In 1988, Sundor had its head office in the El Al House in Tel Aviv.1

Since April 2001, Sundor had grown to become a significant player in the Israeli charter market. The airline also operated flights for incoming tourists, on behalf of European and Israeli operators. In January 2005, Sundor became a private company following the privatisation of El Al. The airline is licensed for the commercial transport of passengers and cargo on charter flights to and from Israel and owned an Air Operator Certificate to operate two leased planes that were fully serviced by El Al's maintenance.

Sundor remained a fully owned subsidiary company of El Al and as such its passengers could take advantage of this association. Benefits included the ability for passengers to accumulate El Al frequent flyer points on Sundor flights, and the supplying of food including all types of special meals through Tamam-Catering, an El Al Subsidiary. El Al also provided ground services, air crews and aircraft for Sundor. The airline had introduced a new look website and were to apply the same to their fleet as well.2

In March 2011, The Israel Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced the suspension of Sundor's operating license effective 1 April 2011. The CAA based its decision citing non-compliance with Israeli and international airline management standards, mainly lack of self-owned planes and crew.3 Since then, Sundor no longer operates own aircraft but utilizes planes from its parent, El Al.

In May 2015, El Al confirmed it was in merger talks with its competitor Israir Airlines. While Sundor would be dissolved, El Al would gain shares in Israir instead.4

Destinations

Sundor Boeing 707 departing from Düsseldorf Airport in 1984 source ↗
Sundor Boeing 757-200, retired in 2011 and broken up in 2012 source ↗
Sundor Boeing 737-800 operated by El Al in 2019 source ↗

Sundor branded flights are operated by El Al to the following destinations as of January 2024:5

Country City Airport Notes Refs
 Albania Tirana Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza Seasonal 678
 Austria Salzburg Salzburg Airport W. A. Mozart Seasonal 98
 Bulgaria Varna Varna Airport Seasonal 10
 Croatia Dubrovnik Dubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport Seasonal 11
Zagreb Zagreb Franjo Tuđman Airport Seasonal 1211
 Cyprus Larnaca Larnaca International Airport 138
Paphos Paphos International Airport 1314158
 Denmark Copenhagen Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup Seasonal 11
 Egypt Sharm El Sheikh Sharm El Sheikh International Airport Terminated
 France Lyon Lyon–Saint-Exupéry Airport 16
Nice Nice Côte d'Azur Airport Terminated 17
 Georgia Batumi Alexander Kartveli Batumi International Airport Seasonal 8
Tbilisi Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport 18198
 Greece Athens Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos Terminated 20
Heraklion Heraklion International Airport "Nikos Kazantzakis" Seasonal 21228
Kefalonia Kefalonia International Airport Seasonal 238
Mykonos Mykonos Airport Seasonal 21208
Preveza / Lefkada Aktion National Airport Seasonal 21208
Rhodes Rhodes Airport Seasonal 248
Sitia Sitia Public Airport Terminated 2320
Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Airport "Makedonia" 2419208
Thira Santorini International Airport Seasonal 258
 Israel Tel Aviv David Ben Gurion Airport Base
 Italy Cagliari Cagliari Elmas Airport Seasonal 11
Catania Catania–Fontanarossa Airport Seasonal 11
Naples Naples-Capodichino International Airport 198
 Moldova Chișinău Chișinău Eugen Doga International Airport 248
 Montenegro Podgorica Podgorica Airport Terminated 26
Tivat Tivat Airport Seasonal 27198
 Poland Kraków Kraków John Paul II International Airport 198
Warsaw Warsaw Chopin Airport 138
 Portugal Porto Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport 28
 Serbia Belgrade Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport 298
 Slovakia Piešťany Piešťany Airport Terminated 26
 Slovenia Ljubljana Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport Terminated 30
 Switzerland
 France
 Germany		 Basel
Mulhouse
Freiburg		 EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg Seasonal 11
 Turkey Istanbul Istanbul Airport Terminated 31

Fleet

As of May 2026, the fleet operated under the Sundor brand consists of the following aircraft:32

Sundor fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
Boeing 737-800 7 — 189 Operated by El Al.
3 leased from KlasJet.
Total 7 —
References

References

  1. "World Airline Directory." Flight International. 26 March 1988. 117 Archived 14 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. "Sundor Boeing 757 featuring a modified new look in Berlin special fare promotional". Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  3. "Israel's Sundor has operating licence withdrawn".
  4. "Israel's el al confirms talks to merge Sundor with Israir".
  5. "Flights Sundor". Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  6. Liu, Jim (14 January 2025). "Sundor Adds Tirana Service in NS25". AeroRoutes. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  7. "להיט הקיץ של הישראלים: חמש טיסות בשבוע: סאן דור מכפילה קצב לאלבניה". פספורטניוז (in Hebrew). PassportNews. 25 May 2025. Retrieved 25 May 2025.
  8. Kotler, Amit (22 December 2025). "החל מ-299$ בשיא הקיץ: היעדים המשפחתיים החדשים של סאן דור". פספורטניוז (in Hebrew). PassportNews. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  9. Liu, Jim (20 August 2025). "Sun d'Or Dec 2025 Salzburg Operations". AeroRoutes. Retrieved 21 August 2025.
  10. Cotler, Amit (19 January 2026). "Sun Dor Reveals Varna As Its 20th Destination for Summer 2026". passport.news. PassportNews. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
  11. "Fly With Us Around The World - And Now To New And Exciting Destinations!". elal.com. EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd. Retrieved 8 February 2026.
  12. "Israel's Sun d'Or cancels most EX-YU flights". ExYuAviation. 23 March 2024. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  13. "Sundor NS24 A320 operations - 14Jan24". AeroRoutes. 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  14. "Israeli airlines told not to land in Paphos, Cyprus". JPost.com. The Jerusalem Post. 26 January 2025. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  15. "גם סאן דור חוזרת לפאפוס: טיסות ישירות ב-99 דולר לכיוון". פספורטניוז (in Hebrew). PassportNews. 27 June 2025. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  16. Lifshitz-Klieger, Iris (11 September 2024). "Sun D'Or offers new winter destinations sure to please Israeli skiers". Ynetnews. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  17. "Sun d'Or Airlines New Nice-Tel Aviv". YesICannes. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  18. "Sundor Adds New Seasonal Weekly Service in S16". Airlineroute.net. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  19. "Sun d'Or NS24 A320 Operations – 14JAN24". AeroRoutes. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  20. Liu, Jim (22 January 2025). "ממשיכה להפתיע: סאן דור מתרחבת עם קו ישיר חדש לאי היווני המבוקש". פספורטניוז (in Hebrew). Retrieved 22 January 2025.
  21. Liu, Jim (31 December 2024). "Sun d'Or NS25 Greece Network Additions". AeroRoutes. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  22. Liu, Jim (10 February 2025). "Sun d'Or Adds Irakleion Service in NS25". AeroRoutes. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
  23. "Sun d'Or NS24 Greece Network Additions". AeroRoutes. 13 May 2024. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  24. Liu, Jim (12 September 2018). "El Al / Sun d'Or schedules new seasonal routes in S19". Routesonline. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  25. "ממשיכה להתרחב: סאן דור משיקה קו חדש לבלגרד". פספורטניוז (in Hebrew). 10 June 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  26. Liu, Jim (19 August 2024). "Sun d'Or NW24 Preliminary Network Additions". AeroRoutes. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  27. "Flights to tivat". www.elal.com. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  28. Liu, Jim (11 July 2024). "Sun d'Or Resumes Tel Aviv – Porto Service in NS24". AeroRoutes. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  29. "El Al's Sun d'Or to launch scheduled Belgrade flights". EX-YU Aviation News. 11 June 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  30. "Sun d'Or Adds Smartwings 737 Service to Slovenia in NS24". AeroRoutes. 21 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  31. "Sun d'Or Airlines Resumes Flights to iGA Istanbul Airport". IST Airport. 30 March 2023. p. 1.
  32. "Aircrafts [sic] Sun d'Or". Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
External links

Media related to Sun d'Or International Airlines at Wikimedia Commons