November will be remembered as a bad month for El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL). Its dispute with the company pilots reached a peak before the recent agreement was signed, accompanied by flight disruptions, cancelations, and the use of leased planes.
According to the flightstats.com website, El Al is in second place in flight delays; only Air India has a worse record. 47% of El Al's flights in November were delayed, with an average delay of 42 minutes, compared with 50% delays and an average delay of 50 minutes for Air India. Flightstats.com classifies a flight as delayed if the takeoff if more than 15 minutes later than the scheduled time.
Other airlines with frequent flight delays included Air China and Asiana Airlines, 35% of whose flights were delayed. Air China, Asiana, and Air India do not operate flights to Israel.
Airlines that stood out in meeting their flight schedules included Spanish airline Iberia, with 90% of its flights in November taking off on time, the same proportion as KLM and Delta. 90% of Qatar Airlines' flights also took off on time. Not far behind with 85% on-time takeoffs were Air France, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, and United Airlines.
The agreement signed by El Al and its pilots has already had an effect on the company's reservations. A travel agency source said that the company's reservations had recently declined, reflected in cheaper prices for flights in the near future (before the Hanukah holiday). The source said that passengers were beginning to regain confidence in El Al, and the pace of its orders was beginning to pick up. Flights in January, usually a poor season for tourism after the Christian holidays and their accompanying sales) are already more expensive than December flights.
Demand for hotels in January is low, leading hoteliers to reduce their prices, thereby making it possible to cut flight package prices for various destinations in Europe and providing El Al with some compensation for its slump.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 7, 2016
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016