El Al's market share drops 12%

National air carrier, subsidiary Sun Dor suffering decline as competition's cheaper flights bite into its hold on tourism market

Danny Sadeh|Published: 10.14.10 , 12:29

Is El Al heading for a crash landing? The Israeli airline has lost 19% of its market share of incoming and outgoing flights over the past five years, the Israeli Airports Authority reported Wednesday.

According to the report, the slump is largely due to the introduction of low-cost airlines claiming their piece of the burgeoning flight industry in Israel.

If the passengers flying on San Dor, El Al's subsidiary charter airline, are figured into the calculations, it reduces the market share loss to 12%.

"The data reflects the increasing competition in the international flight industry, which has been introduced by the new airlines operating in Israel," an El Al statement said. .

El Al's market share between January and September 2010 was 32.7%, compared to 40.4% over the same period in 2006. The market share of El Al and San Dor combined decreased from 41.7% to 36.6%.

Moreover, while the number of passengers passing through Ben Gurion International Airport has grown by 30% over the past five years, the number of passengers using El Al grew by only 4.66%. Once San Dor's passengers are factored in, the increase is of 13.4% – still significantly lower than the market growth.

Turkish Airlines also loses

The report also shows that among the 10 most active airlines flying through Ben Gurion Airport this September, El Al and Turkish Airlines were the only two companies showing a decrease in activity. Because of the numerous September holidays, El Al was in service fewer days than usual, causing a 3.3% drop in the number of passengers.

Sun Dor passengers allowed El Al to show an increase of 0.8% compared to the same period in 2009, a trivial increase considering that during the month of holidays, the number of passengers that went through Ben Gurion rose by nearly 10%.

An El Al spokesperson dismissed the data, saying the airline "showed an accumulative growth of approximately 7% in the number of passengers it served since the beginning of the year."

The number of passengers flying with Turkish Airlines dropped by 33%, compared to September 2009, due of the Israeli boycott.

Among the top 10 airlines for September, some – like Israir, Arkia and Delta – have shown impressive growth: Israir experienced a whopping 63%, increase in passenger activity, Arkia had a 56.5% and Delta saw a 38% increase.

Overall, 1,122,095 passengers passed through Ben Gurion in Septembr, a 9.3% growth compared to last year. Since January, over 8.8 million passengers flew in or out of the airport, a 10.26% growth.