Fly blue and white

El Al is doing the right thing (“EL AL sues government over rival’s right to fly over Saudi airspace,” March 29), especially when policy completely precludes the airline in favor of a competitor that belongs to a country whose prime minister, visiting Ramallah, called Yasser Arafat a “great man.”

Saudi Arabia is historically hostile to Israel. As such, we have no business humbling ourselves by accepting that our national airline is forbidden to enter that country’s air space. Are we really so desperate?

We cannot continue along this road where we, a sovereign nation, are prepared to portray ourselves as having no pride.

Nothing should take precedence over flying blue and white. PHYLLIS STERN Netanya

You write: “Israel’s flag carrier, El Al is facing tough times, as the company has been steadily losing market share at its main hub, Ben-Gurion Airport.”

This is hardly surprising. Maybe if El Al were to offer better service and timely departures – and stop canceling flights at the last minute – more people would be willing to pay extra for the security and safety of traveling blue and white.

Twice in recent years, we booked with the airline only to face a last-minute cancellation or schedule change. Maintaining service and punctuality are every bit as important as the security of the passengers.

Stop whining, El Al! Get your act together! Competition is healthy – monopolies aren’t.

By choice, we prefer to travel El Al, but we have had our fingers burned too many times.

I. SIVAN Kiryat Bialik