"Globes" has learned that Israel's national airline El Al will set up a joint company for flight reservations with American Airlines subsidiary Sabre. American Airlines is the world's second largest airline company.
El Al will hold only 49% of shares in the new company, which will be named Sabre Israel, so that it will not be a government company to and subject to the procedures governing such companies. Sabre will hold 51% of Sabre Israel, but the general manager will be El Al executive Yakov Ben-Halevy, who until recently managed the company's North American routes in the Far East. The new company's chairman will be an American.
The company will begin operating in the next few weeks. Representatives of El Al workers oppose the setting up of a new company, fearing that it will lead to lay-offs of employees in El Al's reservations and distribution system named Carmel.
Sabre has a staff of 10,000, and reservation turnovers total $75 billion a year. The company claims that it takes 40% of global flight reservations a year, i.e. 400 million bookings.
The system enables reservations to be made in over 440 airlines, 47,000 hotels and 50 major car rental companies. Sabre is owned by US concern AMR, owners of American Airlines.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 27 July, 2000