El Al's operating profit soars 151%
Airline's net profit in third quarter of 2012 was $37.3 million – a 79% leap. 'El Al has no objections to a fair and appropriate open skies agreement,' says CEO Elyezer Shkedy
The airline's Q3 revenues amounted to $605.7 million, as in the corresponding quarter.
Cargo revenues dropped 16.5% to $43.7 million as compared with $52.3 million in the corresponding quarter, presumably as a result of reduced quantity of ton to kilometers.
The company's operating profit soared 151% to $62.5 million in the third quarter, as compared to a $24.9 million profit in the corresponding quarter last year.
El Al's third quarter gross profit climbed 31% to $147.8 million, as compared with a gross profit of $112.9 million in the corresponding quarter.
El Al's bottom line was $37.3 million – a 79% leap as compared with a $20.8 million net profit in the corresponding quarter.
El Al CEO Elyezer Shkedy said in response to the results, "El Al is continuing to deal with a reality in which the world economy is in a deep crisis, which is impacting the airline industry. As a result, airlines around the world are taking painful steps to streamline their operations and are laying off thousands of employees.
"We have also dealt with a complicated geopolitical reality in the Middle East, which is even more manifest in recent days."
Commenting on the "open skies" policy, Shkedy said: "El Al has no objections to a fair and appropriate agreement. All we ask for is an opportunity to compete under equal and fair conditions, in order to allow fair and real competition.
"Right now, the proposed agreement does not allow for the basic conditions for true and fair competition."
This report was originally published in Hebrew by Calcalist
