El Al Israel Airlines issued last week a statement indicating it had embarked upon a streamlining policy in order to cope with climbing costs and shrinking business.
 
Within the framework of the new cost cutting policy El Al Israel Airlines announced that it was about to restructure its management which includes personnel changes and position cancellations.
 
The post of VP global sales will be cancelled and its responsibilities will be transferred to the VP commerce and aviation connections.
 
In the second quarter of 2006, the airline lost $15.1 million and and is expected to post a similar loss in the coming quarters also. In the second quarter of 2005 it had recorded $29.8 million profit. The loss is due to high competition in the industry and a drop in the number of passengers as a result of the second Lebanon war.
 
The company opened last week negotiation with labor representatives to sack some 600 employees. Out of the 600 marked for dismissal, 400 are thought to be temporary workers.
It is understood that the labor representatives strongly objected to the proposed cutbacks and demanded that management first cut other costs.
 
It was also made known that in a separate negotiation held with pilots representatives the management put forward demands that pilots spend less time abroad, and stay at lower-class hotels.

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