Israeli flag-carrier El Al has substantially improved its third-quarter performance, generating a pre-tax profit of over $126 million.
The result compared favourably with the previous figure of just $14 million, which was set against the problems relating to Israel’s military operations in Gaza during 2014.
El Al has disclosed, in a third-quarter statement, that its revenues for the three months to 30 September rose by 7.7% to $647 million.
Its performance was aided by a 12% fall in expenditure to $438 million – to which the decline in fuel prices contributed – which enabled the airline to double its gross profit.
El Al’s passenger traffic for the quarter rose by 7.7% but it kept its capacity increase to just 2.5%, resulting in a four-point improvement in load factor to 86.3%.
Its third-quarter figures enabled El Al to achieve a pre-tax profit of $128 million for the first nine months of the year, turning around a previous $18 million loss.
El Al posted the profit despite a slight decline in revenues for the period which, it says, is the result of higher passenger numbers at Tel Aviv being offset by a reduction in fares.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
