El Al Reports Larger Operating Loss for First Quarter

An El Al plane in London

El Al Airlines announced financial results for the first quarter of 2014.

The Israeli flag carrier reported an operating loss of $39.7 million for Q1, compared to its smaller loss of $32.5 million in the same period last year.

Total revenue for the airline was $415.4 million, a year-over-year decrease of $15.6 million from $431 million in the first quarter of 2013.

Passenger traffic was 3.823 billion revenue passenger kilometers, or RPKs, a 2% increase from 3.749 billion RPKs in the first quarter of 2013. El Al also saw a small increase in capacity, with 4.735 billion available seat kilometers, or ASKs, a 3% increase from 4.588 billion last year.

The airline’s Q1 load factor was 80.7%, a year-over-year decrease of 1 percentage point from 81.7% in the first quarter of last year.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)