El Al official warns airline could go under ‘in weeks’ due to coronavirus

26 February 2020, 9:20 pm

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Israel’s national carrier El Al is warning that Israeli airlines could collapse financially in a matter of “weeks” due to the Jewish state’s increasingly stringent travel restrictions related to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

“It’s a catastrophe,” an El Al official tells the Kan public broadcaster. “The airlines here will collapse within weeks. El Al, even before the Health Ministry announcement [urging Israelis to avoid all non-essential travel abroad], sustained damage of NIS 200 million from the coronavirus.”

“If the state doesn’t wake up there won’t be an airline here in a matter of weeks,” the official says.