Incoming El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) chairman David Brodet wrote to the airline's employees, "Restoring customer confidence is the most important challenge confronting us because without loyal and returning customers the company has no right to exist."
Alongside the appointment of Brodet yesterday, the other board members proposed by the new controlling shareholder Eli Rozenberg were also approved - Prof. Gabriela Shalev, Amikam Ben Zvi, Doron Cohen, Jason Greenblatt, and Moti Engelman. Shareholders had been asked to vote on the new board on November 17 but the vote was brought forward at Rozenberg's request.
Former Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) chairman Brodet wrote, "For eight months El Al has not been operating scheduled services. The government permitted Ben Gurion airport to open on October 15 and now we face the huge task of putting the company back on track. The immediate and first challenge is completing the assistance plan and raising debt and we are working intensively to reach agreement with the financing agencies."
"To restore customer confidence is an obligation for all of us, in every role in the company, to create and provide improved value, in an era of growing competition, the day after the Covid-19 virus. We will form genuine new content for customer's expectations and we will realize it in the best possible way. Our aim is that El Al planes will take off on time, arrive on time with security and safety and today in health and all this while providing meticulous and quality service to passengers. We must ensure that El Al will be the first choice of every customer in Israel and in this way we will expand our customer base, with the Jewish people and the entire world."
Speaking about the Covid-19 crisis, Brodet wrote, "El Al is slowly resuming flights on a number of routes. But from here to recovery and a return to a scale of over 100 fights per day, there is a long way. In order for El Al to return to the volume of flights in the past some targets must be met both in Israel and worldwide. We must overcome the virus and create a low level of infection together with a swift halt to the chain of infection. We must reach understandings and agreements about the passage of people between countries without requiring isolating but while being strict on testing and rapid information in the case of an infection. We must establish regulations for all flight procedures, and finally we must create high demand from customers."
On the subject of streamlining Brodet wrote, "An important and very difficult task confronting us is the strict implementation of the streamlining plan. This plan is the key to our ability to cope with the global 'aviation lions' and to do so in a way that will ensure a certain future for El Al and the thousands of households making a living from it. Implementing the streamlining plan is a painful and hard process but we will take care that it is conducted fairly and with full transparency."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 20, 2020
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