Israeli flag-carrier El Al has agreed to lease three more Boeing 737-800s, with the first to be delivered in December.
Israeli flag carrier El Al has agreed to lease three more Boeing 737-800s, with the first to be delivered in December.
Another pair will arrive in April 2020, the airline states in a third-quarter results briefing. The twinjets will be leased for six years.
El Al has not identified the source of the aircraft, simply describing the lessor as a “foreign” company.
It already has 15 737-800s and eight 737-900ERs, and has been undertaking a renovation of the -800s’ cabin interior since the second quarter to increase the number of seats and provide additional features for passengers.
El Al says this upgrade work will be largely completed by the end of the year.
The operator’s pre-tax losses for the first nine months of 2019 deepened by a third to $35.3 million.
Revenues stayed flat at $1.66 billion – despite a traffic rise of 2.6% – and the company managed to trim expenditure by 2% to $1.38 billion.
But while El Al generated an operating profit of $24.1 million by the end of September, reversing a $4.4 million deficit last year, it was hit by a trebling of finance costs.
El Al’s net profit increased to just over $28 million, the company states.
Over the third quarter its operating profit dipped to $57.5 million, while pre-tax profit was cut by 35% to $35.4 million, and net profit fell by a similar level to around $27 million.
