A top El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) executive told "Globes", The FIMI-Knafaim deal is excellent and can be carried out, if all goes well, within six months."
El Al and other aviation and tourism industry executives welcomed the pending deal in which First Israel Mezzanine Investors Fund (FIMI), run by CEO Ishay Davidi, will become part of El Al's controlling core with Knafaim Holdings Ltd. (TASE: KNFM). They denied rumors that some El Al executives oppose the deal.
Another El Al executive told "Globes", "The FIMI-Knafaim deal is a serious and responsible deal, under which the bulk of FIMI's investment - $55 million out of $60 million - will go to the company. This is a substantial amount, which will enable El Al to move forward and flourish." He added that the negotiations with the employees - a new collective labor contract is a condition of FIMI's investment - were still at the preliminary stage, and that it was premature to make an announcement about them.
Commenting on El Al's decision to cut the base commission paid to travel agents from 7% to 5%, VP global sales Ofer Gat said, El Al is one of the airlines that pays the base commission. Most of our competitors have reduced to 1% or zero. Competition in the industry is changing, and El Al is taking steps to deal with it, one of which is changing the fees." He adds that El Al will not touch the incentives commissions to travel agents, and that it will not reduce the base commission further.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 5, 2013
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