EL AL COULD HAVE MADE a profit of around $50 million in 1995, if the Israeli airline had been allowed to operate seven days a week, including Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.
The conclusion comes from a two-month-long study on the airline completed by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in the run-up to the airline's planned privatisation.
BCG concludes that El Al's 1996 market value is likely to be around $385 million, but could be $507-527 million if the airline were allowed to operate seven days a week.
An analysis of airline performance suggests that El Al could have improved its profits by $34-38 million in 1994 if the ban had been lifted. The airline, in fact, returned a profit of $14 million, with a similar return expected for 1995.
Source: Flight International
