El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) reported a widening loss and lower revenue in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the corresponding quarter, indicating that the carrier has been adversely effected by the Open Skies policy with the EU and the opening up of Israel's airline market to competition.
El Al lost $39.7 million in the first quarter of 2014, up 22% from a loss of $32.5 million in the first quarter of 2013. Operating loss rose 52% in the first quarter to $51.9 million.
El Al's revenue in the first quarter of 2014 was $416 million, down 3.6% from $431 million in the corresponding quarter of 2013. The company attributed the poorer first quarter performance to the fact that the Passover holiday, when it carries large number of passengers, fell in the second quarter this year but was in the first quarter last year. The first quarter has traditionally been El Al's most difficult in terms of results.
El Al's market share fell from 34.7% in the first quarter of 2013 to 33.3% in the first quarter of 204. Flight occupancy fell to 80.7% in the first quarter from 81.7% in the first quarter of 2013.
One positive figure was that sales of flights via the Internet rose by 25% in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the corresponding quarter.
El Al's new CEO David Maimon, who succeeded Elyezer Shkedy on March 20, said, "The company is coping with increased competition in the quarter reflected in an 8% rise in traffic at Ben Gurion Airport and 15% rise in the capacity of foreign carriers."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 21, 2014
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