El Al presents: Sixth consecutive quarter of an increase in revenue - loss shrinked to $ 66 million

El Al closes a consecutive sixth quarter of an increase in revenue, with the termination of the position of outgoing CEO Avigal Soreq - the company reduced its loss in the first quarter of the year to $ 66 million, compared to a loss of $ 86 million in the first quarter of 2021.
Tomorrow, Soreq will officially end his position at the company, and he will be replaced by the new CEO, Dina Ben-Tal Genensia. This is in the days when El Al is dealing with employee sanctions that have also led to the cancellation of several flights.
The company's revenue in the first quarter was $ 282 million, compared to just $ 116 million in the first quarter of 2021 - a growth that was offset by the rise in jet fuel prices. Expenditures increased by $ 293 million compared to $ 165 million in the first quarter of 2021. In the EBITDA line, EL AL recorded a $ 15 million plus, compared to $ 11 million in the previous quarter (Wednesday 21) and only $ 2 million in the first quarter Of last year.
Recovery from the blow it suffered in the Corona crisis has not been completed: the volume of the company's activity in the first quarter of 2022 was 53% compared to the corresponding quarter in 2019, before the Corona crisis. So far in 2022, the number of Israelis going abroad is 66% of 2019, and the number of tourists entering is only 32%. Has climbed 82% since the beginning of 2022.
Outgoing El Al CEO Avigal Soreq said at a press briefing that “the first quarter is a very special quarter, we had the omicron and the sky was closed and only towards March were the restrictions removed. In January we were about 50% of what we were in 2019, 55% in February and 83% in March. The company's focus is to get back to production as soon as possible. "
CFO Yitzhak Eliav emphasized that El Al intends to move to profitability in the second half of 2023. In response to Calcalist's question as to whether this is a realistic goal, Soreq and Eliav said that El Al is "very complex" and has many parameters under its control. Labor, fuel prices and competition. Sorek said that "El Al in Israel is a super brand in the full sense of the word, profitability is a very realistic goal but the whole village has to work to achieve it."
Incoming CEO Ben Tal Genensia commented on the company's future strategy and said, among other things, that attention should be focused on returning to routine and that the intention is to focus on excellence in service: "We will make every effort to improve customer service, including by external suppliers." In the long run, we can talk about renewing and expanding the aircraft fleet. "She added that there is an intention to create partnerships in North America, a significant entry into the world of tourism and accelerating the digital transformation of the company's services.
The financial report also referred to El Al El's competition with other companies operating at Ben Gurion Airport. So far in 2022, the company's market share at Ben Gurion Airport was 22% compared to 23% in 2021 and 25% in 2019. The significant competition is with The low-cost companies, which increased their market share from 25% in 2019 to 34% in 2022. According to the company, the companies that most significantly increased their market share at Ben Gurion Airport are Rainier, where passenger traffic increased by 97% between 2019 to 2022 and Pegasus, which increased its passenger traffic by 30%, while El Al's passenger traffic decreased by 53% during that period.
 Shlomi met Shalom, the company's vice president and chief of staff, said in this regard that "we think ask about knowing how to compete and we have the best planes in front of the competitors and the best network of lanes and slots." The competition is not fair. We do not fly over Saudi Arabia and we do not fly to Turkey. "The company's CEO Sorek added that" we are in favor of competition, competition does good for everyone. "