clubman

According to an internal document leaked to the press at least...

This is due to the dire financial state of the airline and the ongoing sage with the pilots union.

A couple the points discussed:

1. retiring some of the fleet earlier than planned, including one 744 and and four 737s.
2. Any future plans for new long haul aircraft will have to be adjusted/emended (not sure how that fits in with their plans for new aircraft as discussed in the other thread).

I assumes this also means we are unlikely to see any hard product improvements any time soon.

LY employees (especially the pilots) have criticised these plans, claiming they will hurt passengers as well as themselves, and see this as yet another stratigic move within the ongoing negotiations with the union.

http://www.themarker.com/news/aviation/1.2569258

entropy

I wish they'd just go into receivership so that a competent investor group that's actually interested in improving the airline to the extent that it makes a profit and is not an embarrassment to the State of Israel can come in.

ELY001

When you take into account company inefficiencies, declining market share, company debt (which is staggaring) and lack of true leadership, IMHO they simply cannot afford new a/c even if offered exceptional deals by Boeing and Airbus.

Not with the current owners/managers.

The reason why labor issues cannot be worked out inside the company is because each group is highly entrenched. Rather than coming together as a team for the benefit of the company, each group is veying for a bigger piece of shrinking pie for themselves. The fact that labor and management are unionized under a 1982 contract further hardens their positions as they cannot be easily fired or forced to compromise. They also believe that should the company go bankrupt the government would bail it out (which is something that is dubious) and therefore all the groups have little real incentive to come together for the good of the company. The end result is stagnation.


I agree

The airline could have been sold to a competent investor group years ago, however the current owners have valuated the airline too high and thus nobody who expressed interest in purchasing the airline ever went through.

Also, the fact that management, which largely consists of those held over from the state owned era, are unionized means you cannot simply get rid of them and put competent persons in their place. All of this makes LY a highly risky investment bet as it currently is.

IMHO, what is hurting the company most now are the revisions to Matmid. The situation went from bad to worse as long time high yielding frequent fliers are bolting to Turkish and other competitors. Last summer's war in Gaza also did not help matters much despite the fact that LY posted a profit for Q3 (if it is to be believed).

NYCRuss

What restrictions, if any, would Israel put on foreign ownership of El Al?

ELY001

The majority SH has to be an Israeli citizen.

ByrdluvsAWACO

Is there a percentage requirement like the 51% in the EU?

NYTA

And yet despite the dire financial state of the airline, they gave out a Passover Haggadah to each passenger on my flight to MXP yesterday. What a waste.

simba8

Curious to see how well they did with their q4 results (due any day now).

ELY001

They usually post by now but for some reason they aren't

turbjuo

how much were they asking?
and in your opinion how much do u value it now?
also how big is the debt?

RedChili

Now, Israel is truly amazing! Even the pilot union has their own sage!

ELY001

Those are issues that I will not discuss on a public forum such as this with persons who are unidentified.