Pigs Have No Place on Its Planes, El Al Says
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JERUSALEM — Israel’s national airline rejected a business deal Monday to transport live pigs as cargo, saying pork has no place on its planes.
“We don’t put pork in the bellies of our passengers, and we aren’t going to put pork in the bellies of our planes, either,” said Nachum Klienman, a spokesman for El Al Airlines.
Because of its large Jewish clientele, the airline serves only kosher food. Jews are forbidden by religious law to eat pork.
An unidentified U.S. company approached El Al with a proposal to transport breeding pigs from the United States to Europe. But the deal, worth tens of thousands of dollars, was rejected by the company, Klienman said.
“Out of respect for some of the people who travel with us, we felt that it was in our best interest to reject the offer,” Klienman said.
El Al transported more than 140,000 tons of cargo, including race horses and cattle, around the world in the holds of its jets in 1987. It has never shipped a cargo of swine.
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