After twenty years, the Nakash family is selling its controlling stake in airline Arkia, reportedly for NIS 40-50 million. The road ahead will not be easy for the new owners. First of all, just today (Thursday), the Histadrut’s Transport Workers Union declared a labor dispute at the company, citing "a series of unilateral measures being advanced by Arkia’s owners, primarily efficiency initiatives and workforce reductions."
This will be the first challenge facing the acquiring group, which includes Kidan Dahari and Yaron Adib, owners of the Ispro-Tnuport Group. At this stage, discussions are taking place between the Histadrut, the workers' representative body, and the prospective buyers, as the parties enter a night of negotiations. The Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) has stated that no deal will be finalized without the workers' consent.
Even if this hurdle is cleared, the acquiring group will inherit a company in need of a major overhaul. Estimates suggest the company lost approximately $30 million during the first three quarters of the year, and it is projected to end the year with a total loss of $50 to $60 million.
"The new investors will inject capital that should stabilize the company, and there is a strong likelihood that operations will continue as usual, at least in the short term," says Dr. Uzi Freund-Feinstein, an aviation expert and senior faculty member in the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management at Kinneret Academic College. It is worth noting that the industry is now entering the winter months, a period when airline revenue typically declines significantly. Consequently, even if the investor group succeeds in stabilizing the company, it will take time before they see any profits.
Looking further ahead, Freund-Feinstein is somewhat more skeptical. "In the medium term, they will need to work out how to pull the company out of its current cash-flow hole and transform it into a profitable enterprise. This is a highly complex and challenging issue in the air transport sector, an industry in which losing money is all too easy, while turning a profit is difficult." Furthermore, the new group of buyers does not come from the aviation industry, meaning they will need to appoint experts from the field to work alongside them. "Much like the situation at Israir, where Uri Sirkis manages the company while Rami Levy handles the financial side, they will need to find managers with industry expertise who can steer the company in a positive direction."
Another area requires improvement at Arkia is customer service. According to Ben Gurion Airport’s operational data, Arkia is the Israeli airline with the highest number of delays (averaging 58 minutes for departures and 46 minutes for arrivals). Among all airlines operating at Ben Gurion Airport, Arkia ranks fifth for delays. In this context, it appears that the new owners’ task, beyond stabilizing the company, will be to improve the quality of its service.
"Ultimately, this is good news for travelers," concludes Freund-Feinstein. "This could mark the end of the saga at Arkia and the beginning of a new chapter. As for the employees, companies generally resort to downsizing when facing difficulties, so it will be interesting to see what happens."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 12, 2026.
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