EL Al loses US$75 million in '09 after $5.7 million loss in '09

ISRAELI flag carrier EL Al reported made a 2009 loss of US$75 million against a 2008 loss of $5.7 million drawn on last year's revenues of 1.65 billion, a 21 per cent drop from the previous year's $2.01 billion.

Fourth quarter profit and revenues losses narrowed with revenue at coming in at $413.7 million last year from $462.7 million the year before, a drop of 11 per cent and pre-tax profit falling 17 per cent to $51.1 million in the last three months of 2009 from $61.5 million in the same period the year before.

El Al's load factor was 81 per cent, in comparison with the overall load factors of the foreign carriers at Ben Gurion Airport, which totalled 74.2 per cent.

The company increased market share 37.5 per cent, a five per cent uplift from 2008 with fourth quarter seeing the same increase, said a Globes Newswire report.

Cargo revenues declined 46 per cent compared to 2008, as a result of air cargo slowdown at Ben Gurion Airport; the drop in air cargo rates - mostly because of the world financial crisis; and El Al's initiative to withdraw cargo activities from the Far East routes during the third quarter of 2008.

El Al financial vice president Nissim Malki said the deep reduction in about $440 million in revenues year on year is attributed to many factors "including the influence of the war in the southern border; a very competitive business environment throughout the world; the world financial crisis which caused a drop in revenue and a severe slowdown in cargo markets."

Said company chairman Amikam Cohen: "The management is preparing a plan to face the challenges of the near future, to provide solutions to changes in aviation and the challenges that face the company in general.

Said the company's new CEO Elyezer Shkedy: "When coming to the position three months ago, we embarked upon an extensive analysis by an international consulting company. As a result, we are changing our commercial approach, management risks, quality and service, with the intention to develop income sources, new collaborations to extract our abilities in passenger, cargo and tourism services.

El Al Israel Airlines is Israel's national carrier. In 2009 El Al's revenues totalled $1.7 billion. The airline flies about 1.9 million passengers a year. El Al serves about 36 destinations directly and many other destinations around the globe, through cooperation agreements with other airlines. The company operates 38 aircraft, 28 of which are self-owned. El Al is Israel's leading cargo carrier. The company is active in the charter market through its subsidiary Sun D'Or.
 

(Source: www.schednet.com)