El Al confirms plans to adopt changes to maintain competitive position

El Al confirmed (23-Mar-2018) plans to introduce changes within the company to maintain its competitive position. El Al CEO Gonen Usishkin said measures include the acquisition of Boeing 787 aircraft, route network expansion in North America, additional frequencies, investment in digital technologies and efforts to enhance operational accuracy. Mr Usishkin added: "We are also in the of a process of changing the format of the flights to the company's European destinations, thus providing response to low-cost flights, which occupy a growing share of the traffic at Ben Gurion Airport. Within this framework, we consolidated the company's European brands under the El Al brand to facilitate and improve customer experience, followed by operational streamlining, while dedicating our business class to loyal business customers". Mr Usishkin said: "During the year 2017, the company coped with intensifying competition in the Israeli aviation market due to a significant increase in the number of seats offered by foreign airlines, in particular the low cost carriers". [more - original PR]