The war between Israel and Hamas continues to limit the flight options available to Israel.
In Q1, United flew to Israel for 2 weeks and Arkia flew between JFK and Tel Aviv for most of the quarter, but limited competition meant a boon for El Al’s bottom line.
Israel’s flag carrier swung from a net loss of $34.4M on revenue of $500M in Q1 2023 to a profit of $80.5M on revenue of $738M in Q1 2024. In Q1 2025 the airline made a net profit of $96M on revenues of $774M, a new record for Q1.
The airline captured a market share of 44% out of Tel Aviv in Q1, down from 62% in Q1 2024, but up from 22% in Q1 2023.
The reported North American market share was greater than 90%.
Load factor was up from 92.6% in Q1 2024 to an incredible 94.3% of seats filled in Q1 2025.
El Al’s total available seat miles were up by 7% over Q1 2024 and the airline plans to refurbish its 6th 777 and bring it back into service.
The airline no longer has any net debt as of the end of Q1 2025.
With airlines staying away since a Houthi missile hit the airport grounds in early May, El Al expects Q2 revenue per seat mile to be in line with earnings from Q2 2024.
A common complaint is that El Al is gouging and charging too much, though they have actually capped fares on many routes to be much lower than the normal market rate. That market distortion has caused flights to prematurely sell out, so the airline is in a no-win PR situation where they can charge less and sell out sooner, but will get blamed for not having seats when people need them, or charge more and get blamed for gouging.
El Al’s ticket pricing bothers me much less than making changes like higher 2nd checked bag fees and removal of carry-on baggage from Lite fares that apply even to already purchased tickets.
With service from most airlines suspended, El Al is all but assured a very positive Q2 as well. Do the Houthis realize that the more they threaten Israel, the better the Israeli flag carrier performs?
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37 Comments On "With Limited Competition, El Al Reports Another Quarter Of Record Profits"
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What a shame
…but how do you get them on the phone?!
Always book Elal with an agent
…not if you can do it on Miles
Try Facebook Messanger.
I’ve gotten multiple times on the phone. Call early in the morning or later in the night. It always took longer on Whatsapp or FB Messenger.
With elite status it’s very easy to get through to an Israeli agent who can do much more than the Philippines!!!
I hate to admit it but the Phillipinins agents seem to be more helpful than the Israeli ones.
how you got elite status
“so the airline is in a no-win PR situation where they can charge less and sell out sooner, but will get blamed for not having seats when people need them, or charge more and get blamed for gouging”
Agreed! But they approached it from the wrong angle, they should have done something for example for kollel families… figured out a flight or 2 for bouchrim or seminary girls… emergency’s… soldiers (always not just right after 10/7) free baggage for supporting isreal…. all at capped rates and keep regular algorithmic pricing. I know it could be a nightmare to pull off, but it would’ve been a PR success.
There’s not enough capacity. There are barely 10 seats for sale on ELAL NYC-TLV and vice versa over the next few weeks. How can they offer cheaper prices?
They can’t add more planes and can’t contract out, either.
I hear, point was they should have done something proactive from the beginning to address this, especially if they care about the PR issue. and not react wayyy to late and cap flight which btw they only did recently so they could have done something about it before everything sold out like it is now.
Straight out Motzei Shem Ra
They’ve capped fares early and often.
when other airlines capacity returns, they remove the cap, when there’s a security incident and other airlines pull out – right back comes the cap.
I’m sorry but it’s not acceptable I don’t care if you sell out flights – the prices have to come down and be more affordable. It shouldn’t have to cost more than United. Please don’t give the excuse that seats sell out quickly. That’s a better problem to have than overcharging the average consumer.
There’s not enough capacity. There are barely 10 seats for sale on ELAL NYC-TLV and vice versa over the next few weeks. How can they offer cheaper prices? Then there won’t be any seats available for months.
They’re actually very good about award availability even though there are very few seats left.
They can’t add more planes and can’t contract out, either.
Flying direct became a luxury.. no one said you have to fly elal direct there are plenty other stop-over options that can get one into isreal.. so if they cap flights ppl who are wiling to pay for that luxury or ppl that NEED to fly direct for whatever reason cant…!!
They have a very different cost structure than United.
Sorry, this aint socialism, there’s no zechus given in the torah for cheap airfare to IL
True. But, this is socialism sonce they got bailed out during covid with taxpayers money¿…. So now would be great to pay back!
The Houthis know that one missile will keep everyone else from not flying. That’s a big score for them.
I dont think the Houthis care how well El Al performs. Ultimately if they can hit Israel or TLV the damage is much much greater than El Al making money
Unless they own stock
Ah, the classic case of ask for govt handouts when in trouble, but gouge prices when not in trouble leading to increased revenue.
Socialism for me, but not for thee.
Or there wouldn’t be ANY airline flying to IL now if LY had gone under… And the govt MADE MONEY on the loans to elal.
I understand that El Al is in a no win situation but I feel they could do small things that customers would appreciate during the current situation with lack of adequate reliable flight options to/from TLV. For example I think they should have lowered the fee for a second checked bag. Lowering it by say 20% would build good will with customers without having a big impact on their bottom line. They could always raise the fee back whenever the market returns to normal supply/demand levels. Instead El Al actually recently raised their fee for a second checked bag. Do they really need to do that when they are getting records profit? Come on El Al!
Great point you make!
What percentage of flyer actually use two bags? (Aside from students – who have it included in the open ticket student fare anyway — or people smuggling stuff through customs).
Elal has student fares?
So why raise it then…
I hear Global Airlines has an empty A380 availble, maybe arkia can lease it.
TLV isn’t capable of handling the A380
Sure it is.
The A380 needs a special runway to be able to takeoff and land.
Don’t think the runway is the issue.
Anyway 4 engine planes are now allowed in TLV since 2023
Anyone knows when Israir is set-to start its jfk route?
They got initial approval, but still need more approvals. It won’t be Spring 2026.
What points can I use took flights on El Al?
“El Al’s ticket pricing bothers me much less…”
From the guy who never pays cash.