El Al to Stop Flying to Toronto, Warsaw and Brussels
 

Harretz - El Al to Stop Flying to Toronto, Warsaw and Brussels

El Al Israel Airlines announced that it will no longer fly to Toronto, Warsaw and Brussels starting this October, with the cancellation of the routes coming as part of an optimization of the company's network being undertaken in response to the shortage of planes and pilots due to a labor dispute.

In addition, El Al is expected to announce new lines and lines the renewal of flights to destinations which it has previously serviced, such as Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Very strange that they leave these destinations…

On the one hand the article says these routes were cut due to industrial action by the pilots. If so, it makes no sense to open new routes instead, because the pilots will cause just as much problem on those routes. Then the article says the routes were not profitable, despite anecdotal evidence of the flights being regularly full or overbooked. So its hard to know what to believe here.

I think El Al probably has operational issues in Toronto with staff other than the pilots, and since its Canada they cant just shift people from other US cities without some difficulties.

Yet they are contemplating a return to Hong Kong. Talk about challenging....

This airline is in such a mess.
They're cutting Toronto and Brussels which have strong demand in all cabins, as well as Warsaw which is an Eastern European tech hub. Makes no sense.

This is yet again more incompetency and piss poor management leading the way.

Good luck restarting Hong Kong and Tokyo in this environment. EL AL has become a sad joke, and it hurts.

Unreal.

what are loads like to the far east? Its hard to think there's that much outstation to TLV traffic there... There's plenty of traffic from YYZ

Globes speculates that the Toronto plane is moving on to Toyko.

Anecdotally, I feel like El Al had the frequent YYZ/TLV fliers (especially with the sat.night overnight flight) but AC was getting more tourists- either way I think the demand was there for both airlines.

Lets remember that Air Canada inaugurated their first Dreamliner in their entire fleet with a flight from YYZ-TLV in July 2014- while El Al was still flying the 767 on the same route until Jan 2019!! This includes those periods where El Al was leasing planes to use on the route as well. . Some people I know didnt even know that EL AL was even flying a Dreamliner- but in the end it didn't matter- past experiences for some and somewhat better perceived reputation with AC (versus EL AL, also among Israelis), as with anything, informed their decisions along with a much stronger points program with Aeroplan. It easier to having a connecting flight with the rest of Canada through YYZ with Air Canada as well.

I think the above is just my observation and not at all the reason why this is happening- I think its a bizarre decision, short sighted, and I think other airlines (Air Canada and the Star Alliance) will adjust accordingly. The local reaction to the announcement is quite negative. Even though the airline is not the official airline of the government anymore, it does feel like, in someway, a downgrade in relations.

Interestingly enough I do have a flight booked with them in Oct- wasnt sure I was gonna make it and now considering my options...

I will miss them.

I much prefer the timing TLV-YYZ on LY... blow the whole day with the AC one vs a reasonable sleep and a vastly better breakfast on LY.

El Al wants to see Tel Aviv become a transit hub and not just an O/D. Getting strong connection flow at TLV would probably have a better chance to work out for LY if the Saudis agree with it and if TLV cuts back on the racist profiling. If LY can get the Saudis on board letting LY use Saudi air space a bunch and also work out the transit security re-screening side, then LY should need routes like YYZ in particular but also BRU and WAW to run up the transit passenger flow at TLV.

YYZ, BRU and WAW are all Star Alliance hubs. Is LY working toward a deep relationship with Star Alliance?

Have you been to TLV, or Israel?

1) It is not LY's job to get Saudi overflight approvals. This is squarely in the hands of the respective foreign ministers. IF and when that happens, it will benefit UAE carriers more than Israeli ones.
2) If you've ever travelled to Ben Gurion airport you'd know that it is not set up for transit / transfer pax. There is literally no mechanism currently in place, other than 1 single "transfer desk" at the top of the ramp down to customs. This "transfer desk" means picking up a phone, letting someone know you are there, waiting 10 - 15 minutes for someone to show up, and then having them escort you through customs and back into the secured area. Not exactly set up for hundreds or thousands of transfer pax every day.
3) LY is definitely not working on a deep relationship with Star Alliance. There is no need for that burden from Star's perspective. The Israel market is already well covered by multiple daily frequencies on their member airlines: A3, AC, AI, LH, LO, LX, MS, OS, SK, SN, UA
There is no alliance that would make sense for LY. They have many more pressing issues to tackle first.

I personally don't believe that these routes are actually losing money or that the financial performance is what motivated their suspension, I think this has more to do with the labour dispute than anything else.
BRU & WAW, LY has a far superior onboard product to their competition. There is plenty of traffic to both of these cities for various reasons, and the Israeli companies generally prefer to send their staff aboard LY aircraft for security / reliability reasons (reliability in case of war, etc)
YYZ has very strong local demand, as well as from other cities like YUL, YOW & cities in the N.E. USA. This would be an easy route for them to restart almost immediately and with very little reputation lost. They have a robust code-share agreement with WestJet to help connect transfer PAX via YYZ, so there really is no reason that this route shouldn't;t be restarted promptly.

It ain't over until the fat lady sings as they say. I want to see what the outcome of the labour dispute will be- I would not be shocked if it results in the re-launch or cancellation of the cancellations.

'Tis all for now.

Can’t be to TLV without being to Israel; been there, done that.

If the Saudis don’t agree with being pretty open to LY flying over Saudi territory, LY’s desire to see Tel Aviv become a transit hub too — and not so purely dependent upon being an O/D airport — won’t have as great a chance of flying for LY. LY wants that dynamic with flying over Saudi territory to change.

For LY to get strong connection flow at TLV, the way TLV operates would need to change. And LY wants at least some of that to change.

LY is cutting back from three Star Alliance hub airports. Just coincidence that the cuts noted in this thread title are for just airports that happen to only be the primary hubs of Star Alliance carriers?

I'm not sure what your fascination with TLV & LY becoming a "mini DBX" is, but it'll never happen. There are a million reasons why, but not the least of which is that LY doesn't;t have a network capable of supporting that, and TLV is physically not set up to be a transfer hub.

As far as the "coincidence" of LY's recent cuts being *A hubs: almost any route they cut could be considered a star alliance hub, I think you are chasing zebras.

Have an ear and eye to what LY’s CEO says and does when she’s out and about?

“Right now El Al serves as an Israeli point of sale; we don’t have the beyond traffic via Israel. We have this opportunity to open up to expand that.” Those aren’t my words, as you can see here:
https://paxex.aero/el-al-growth-ceo-ganancia-exclusive/

It's never about load factors. It's always about revenue return and the almighty dollar/shekel. For LY, obviously YYZ/WAW/BRU are their least profitable routes, and if there is indeed a staffing labour shortage, you cut those very routes. Will YYZ return? Likely at some point.

a couple of updates:
It seems that Ryanair too has decided to drop its route between Tel Aviv and Brussels South Charleroi Airport.

El Al Israel Airlines blames the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on airline companies for its decision this week to suspend direct service to Toronto.

Additionally from the above article:

• "A company spokesman in New Jersey, who did not wish his name used, told The CJN on Friday that he didn’t know the specific reason why Toronto is being cut from the El Al schedule as of Oct. 28. :confused:
• The spokesman said El Al would certainly “like to stay in Toronto and in the Canadian market.”
• El Al’s Canadian manager said they have not completely given up their landing rights at Toronto’s international airport, just suspended them indefinitely

Also for YYZ- Jetblue will be flying to (YTZ) Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport soon-El Al also code shares with Jetblue, so might be an option to do a transfer via JFK,EWR,BOS

I saw that, but I think it’s hogwash to be completely honest with you.

LY’s cost basis is probably 50% higher than their competition because if security requirements. They will never be able to offer low fares and turn a profit, much less open enough “east-west” connections to attract people to fly from London to China with them.

Come on, LY has a SMALL wide body fleet and a SMALL narrow body fleet. Combined with their high operating costs, political challenges and physical setup of their hub airport- this is nothing but a pie in the sky idea.

The demand for flights to Israel is there, they need to figure out how to tap into that.

Even if they turned TLV into a transfer hub, can you imagine the gong show that would be?

LY’s key to success will be to improve reliability, customer service and IT. Once they’ve got those basics down, then let them start dreaming of competing with EK, TK, etc

Funny enough, just last night Issued bonds: The Airports Authority raised NIS 1 billion- "The raising was made in accordance with government decisions in the field, which will enable the Authority to implement the development plan For the aviation needs of the State of Israel.
Translation- they will be expanding the airport.
Can't imagine how long that will take....

I believe there is one more concourse that can be built on the current infrastructure. Could that be what they are referring to?

not sure- i guess we'll; have to see

I don’t know what LY’s keys to success could be, as I tend to think of airlines as generally bad business, at least in isolation, for long-term private investors.

India/DEL used to be a lot more like Israel/TLV with international-to-international transits; but even India/DEL managed to dip their feet more into the international transit game and did their DEL development/expansion plan to build up DEL to handle a bit more and better that which was done by almost no non-Indian/non-Nepalese international arrival passenger on most days at DEL: international-to-international transit beyond the Indo-Nepal area. Between the interests of the management of the flag carrier and a government interested in putting on more of a show of opening up to the world, lipstick+pig for transit purposes may be more the order of the day instead of hogwash when it comes to airport development/expansion plans. El Al and Israel may attempt some of the same as India/DEL anyway with the TLV development plan — if not now, then perhaps later. Better chance of this than of pigs growing wings to fly.

The markets are completely different. India is not affected by nearly as many overflight bans, nor do they have the massive security or political constraints that Israel / TLV does.

Could TLV see a small amount of transfer passengers? Sure, maybe to places like DXB, AUH, CAI, SSH, ETM for West to east passengers.
And maybe Europe or North America for East originating Pax, but the cost will never be truly competitive, the math doesn't allow it.

Therefore, I don't see this as the way forward for them. They need to focus on their base, the core business and understand their place in the market and stop trying to punch above their weight class.

Focusing on its base has kept LY in a state of being the same kind of basket case business case as has happened with other legacy flag carriers in the international marketplace.

The business should be trying to claw for every bit of additional business — at a price equal to or above its marginal variable cost — and maximizing fleet utilization, and that may well mean that less should be off the table with expanding international transit capability and cross-airline partnerships in the years ahead than remains the case for the present and the past.

The latest development with LY raising money by effectively selling an interest/option in Matmid seems to be a sign that LY is willing to try new things for itself: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle...an-2022-03-15/

Three quick thoughts on this -
1. The silver lining here is that they’re actually willing to reevaluate routes that have been around for a while and get rid of them if they don’t make sense financially.
2. Getting rid of WAW makes sense as they were getting killed by the competition. BRU is an interesting one, mainly because their key competitor on this route is hitting them on the premium side of things but not on the Y side of the equation.
3. YYZ is a strange one, for sure. Keep in mind that 98% of security expenses are paid for by the government (thus, our taxes, you’re welcome), so the question of personell implications etc. shouldn’t really be a factor here. If it’s a price sensitive market with *A providing both direct and decent connecting flights, it might not be a priority in comparison to El Al’s other North America routes.