El Al’s 2025 first-quarter net profits soar by 19%

Israel’s flagship carrier El Al says its net profit in the first three months of the year jumped by 19 percent, even as many foreign carriers gradually resumed their flight services to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

El Al posted a profit of about $96 million in the first quarter of the year, up from the $80.5 million recorded during the same period a year ago. Revenue rose 5% in the reported quarter to $774 million year-over-year.

“We are concluding another quarter of growth and improved profitability,” says El Al’s CEO Dina Ben Tal Ganancia. “We continue to focus on managing our destination mix and increasing the number of flights on core routes, including to North America, Europe, and the Far East.”

The national carrier’s market share of passenger traffic in the first quarter of 2025 narrowed to 44%, from about 62% in the corresponding period a year ago when most foreign carriers halted services to Israel.

El Al’s load factor, the share of sold flight seats, rose to 94.3% in the reported quarter from 92.6%, year-on-year.

El Al’s annual net profit in 2024 grew nearly fivefold to a record high of about $545 million, as many foreign carriers had suspended their Israel routes amid fighting with Hamas and its Iran-backed terror proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen. The company has faced accusations of price gouging, operating a near-monopoly at times.