El Al has reported record earnings in the third quarter of 2024, benefiting from a near-monopoly on flights to and from Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza and regional security tensions. The airline posted $1 billion in revenue from July to September, a 43% increase from $696 million during the same period last year. Profits soared to $187 million, up nearly 260% from $52 million in 2023.
El Al’s strong financial performance comes as many major international airlines have suspended routes to Tel Aviv due to security concerns. U.S. carriers like Delta, American Airlines, and United Airlines have halted flights indefinitely, leaving El Al as the sole operator of direct routes between Tel Aviv and North America. This disruption has resulted in a severe seat shortage and skyrocketing airfares, with El Al’s planes operating at 94% capacity, up from 88% last year.
El Al’s current pricing ranges from $799 to $1,900 for North American routes, while European destinations like London and Paris are priced between $353 and $880. However, passengers booking closer to their travel dates face even higher prices.
El Al’s financial success has drawn criticism, with many accusing the airline of price-gouging during a national crisis. The company denies these claims, claiming that it has capped ticket prices to prevent excessive costs.
“We make every operational effort to increase the supply of seats as much as possible,” said El Al CEO Dina Ben Tal Ganancia. “But for the moment, we don’t have any substantial capacity to add additional flights, and foreign airlines need to resume operations to stabilize passenger demand.”
Smaller Israeli carriers, Israir and Arkia, are preparing to enter the North American market to ease the seat shortage. However, these airlines face regulatory hurdles and logistical challenges, including sourcing wide-body aircraft and crews willing to stay overnight in Israel. “Even if they succeed, it will not lead to a dramatic change,” Ben Tal Ganancia noted.
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24 Responses
Normal economic supply and demand is not price gouging.
I take comfort in knowing the airline is owned by a frum yid who gives much tzedaka
Doesn’t matter what they charge for flights these days. It’s impossible to get a ticket.
YWN what gives you the right to accuse them of price gouging?? Especially the article itself states that they deny it. Did you do a financial audit of EL AL airlines and come to the conclusion that they are price gouging?? I’m pretty sure you didn’t. So you have no evidence of such an accusation you just see record profits and you jump to irresponsible conclusions and abuse your forum to spread your opinions. Shame on you!
kenny is a good man. masssive baal chessed and hatzalah paramedic
I would love to see the prices lower. But I believe El Al is a Shomer Shabbos airline which it wasn’t. Hashem promises כל שומר שבת כדת מחללו שכרו “הרבה מאוד” על פי פעלו. El Al Chazak Chazak! Show the מחללי שבת that it pays to observe Shabbos!!!
Kenny is a phenomenal baal chesed who helps everyone in klal yisroel. An unbelievable tzaddik.
It is not a monopoly in any sense of the word
Every other airline has the right and the ability to fly in and out of Israel. They just choose not to.
As El Al is owned (majority share) by a yid, this article is Lashon Harah and “Motzi Shem Rah” and serves no purpose being published in it’s present form other than to hurt the name of frum yidden.
The war is good to Elal by removing all its competitors, bad for everyone else. Had you invested in TLV:ELAL after Oct.7, you would’ve tripled your money.
Eli rosenberg- the owner of el al- has added this company to his bigger portfolio of a company- called kanfei nesharim.
Why is this important? Because we all know the passuk says hashem is going to bring back those in galut “al kanfei nesharim”
Just something to be super excited about!
Wake up people! Of course this is price gouging. It’s the same thing like with Passover prices. This is worse than just supply and demand. And just because someone gives a lot of charity and does a lot of. Chesed Does not mean that the customer has to pay for that charity. I gave Charity and I do not have to have someone taking my hard earned money to give charity and his own name. Wake up and smell the coffee.
Its not price gouging, the other airlines CHOOSE not to fly to Israel, so by default, on any airline in the world, when seats on an aircraft get keep selling, it automatically pushes the price higher to a new tier of pricing. most people dont know this, but the fact is, that a REGULAR COACH full fare ticket lets say from NYC-TLV roundtrip is around $3000-$3500…MOST people dont pay that because they chap arein on low fare tickets in advance, and usually have many flights and airlines to choose from. But considering that 15 to 20 plane loads of people are all vying for seats on 3 or 4 planes, that changes everything (no, I dont work for Elal or any other airline, I just used to work in Travel so I know how it works)
…And also I agree, Kenny Rosenberg is a big Baal Tzedakah and im happy for him that Elal is making more profit that it probably ever made in its history
If you bought s ticket – could you call the company to beis din so that it could rule on what pricing is allowed by halakha and resolve the uncertainty? This would be better than speculating about the issue.
Kenny is a special human being. Kol hakavod for keeping the skies to E’Y open as everyone else has shut them. Without El Al, if you’d have to fly to the Holy Land for family Simchos, yurtzeits, and other “can’t miss” occasions, the only other options would be charter or private. Either would be prohibitive. Thank you Kenny. ברכה והצלחה. א
I don’t know if this is price gouging or not: I do know that it’s become incredibly expensive and impossible to get a ticket. I always go for Pesach to spend the chag with my children who live in Israel. This year I’ve been priced out of the market. Tickets from JFK and Newark are well over $3,000. That, I think, is inexcusable
It’s one think if they’re all sold out and there are no seats left and an entirely another thing to have to pay $3,300 for an economy seat. It doesn’t sound right.
It says in the articles exactly the range of his prices and that they are capped at a certain amount which is purely voluntary out of the goodness of his heart. So how can you title this article like that. He is not gouging at all.
Beachbum
Dead wrong! You don’t know anything about operating an airline. Price gouging will depend on How pricing works in that industry. Don’t speculate on something that you know nothing about. My feeling is that if the company denies it I have to believe them since the premise of the whole point is purely speculation. Think about how convenient this is. They post record profits and that translates to price gouging?? Cheap shot at its best and I blame YWN and it’s invisible and anonymous “rabbonim” (that may or may not exist) for posting such an irresponsible headline
Yaapchik
You’re not entitled to go to Israel for pesach. A fellow Jew is conducting honest business and the market priced you out. That’s what happened here. I’m pretty sure you would do the same given the opportunity.
You can report the facts without the “price gouging” spin– your own. According to supply-and-demand, the prices can double and the flights would be just as booked; pple are desperate for flights and can’t get any because there are simply not enough seats to fill the need. So L”H and motzi shem ra?
You can report the facts without the “price gouging” spin– your own. According to supply-and-demand, the prices can double and the flights would be just as booked; pple are desperate for flights and can’t get any because there are simply not enough seats to fill the need.
Price gauging is a myth. No product or service has an intrinsic price. The price is whatever people are willing to pay for it.
Being Baal Tzedakah has nothing to do with price price gouging. But I don’t remember people complaining when El Al lost millions of dollars. Every business to survive needs good years to compensate for bad years. El Al was always more expensive than the budget airlines. They pay more their employees. They have union employees. Alot of people who are complaining aren’t El Al regular customers. Yes El Al deserve to make a profit. El Al isn’t the one blocking the competitors.
Here’s a neat trick
Try going to google flights and check prices between the following destinations
New York – Amman
New York – Beirut
New York – Tel Aviv
Maybe before posting an article like this with all sorts of assumptions it would be wise to some research.