El Al, amid an unprecedented financial crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic, has turned to cargo flights to make up for some of the revenue it normally earns through passenger flights, Globes reported.

Israel’s national airline signed a contract with German transport and logistics company Kuehne + Nagel International to operate 150 cargo flights over the next six months. Pre-coronavirus pandemic, cargo flights comprised less than 50% of El Al’s operations.

The flights are operating daily between China and Italy via Israel, dropping off cargo in Italy. Some of the flights will then continue to other locations in Europe, including the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland to pick up cargo and bring it back to Israel.

El Al will use two Boeing 777 passenger jets which it recently converted into cargo planes for the cargo flights as well as its Dreamliner planes, with the cargo placed in the hold and on passenger flights.

“This project allows El Al to open regular cargo flight for imports from Europe on a daily basis from London, Paris, Milan, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Zurich,” El Al Cargo Director Ronen Shapira said. “Adding the flights represents a major addition in capacity for importing from Europe and this will let Israeli industry and importers get businesses back on track as the Israeli economy returns to work.”

Week ago, El Al requested a $350 million loan from the Finance Ministry to “ensure the continued existence of Israel’s national airline.” The loan was initially turned down due to the Finance Ministry’s doubts that the beleaguered airline will be able to repay the loan.

Currently, there are ongoing negotiations between El Al, the Finance Ministry and Israel Discount Bank to secure the loan, of which 75-80% will be guaranteed by the state of Israel and be repaid over six years.

The terms of the loan anticipate that even after the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is over, El Al will operate on a scaled-down version of its current operations, with a 25% cut in daily operations due to an expected overall decline in the airline industry in general in the next year or two.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)