El Al will not install the system on its entire fleet of jets, Raz said, but rather decide which planes require the expensive equipment based on intelligence and whether their destinations include areas that Al-Qaida has been active.
Flight Guard, developed 10 years ago by Israel Aircraft Industries for use on military planes, responds automatically to an approaching heat-seeking missile, firing flares to divert the missile from the aircraft.
El Al Israel Airlines will install anti-missile systems on six passenger jets that fly to areas where the Al-Qaida terror network has been active, according to transportation official.
Installation of the $1 million Flight Guard systems - meant to obstruct a ground-to-air missile fired at an airplane - will begin in the immediate future, said Yitzhak Raz, the project's director at the Transportation Ministry.
The decision to install the anti-missile systems on some passenger jets was made in 2002, after militants in Kenya fired two shoulder-launched missiles at an Arkia airplane, narrowly missing their target.