El Al VP: There is imbalance between supply and demand

El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE:ELAL) VP marketing and digital and communications Nadav Hanin told Globes correspondent Ela Levi-Weinrib at the Israel Business Conference that even though the local aviation industry has begun to stabilize, global problems will negatively affect Israel.

“There is an imbalance between supply and demand in the world. There is a shortage in the supply chain, both of aircraft and of engines. Companies like Virgin have been forced to ground part of their fleet because there are no engines. It was announced that the shortage will hurt the companies’ overall revenue by about $11 billion.”

To demonstrate the shortfall, Hanin cited data from aircraft manufacturers: “Total orders for aircraft in 2024 were 15,000. Boeing managed to produce 1,100 aircraft. To close the gap between supply and demand, they needed 2,100 aircraft. If the gap does not narrow from increased production, there will be no balance between supply and demand,” Hanin said.

“We did not want to be here alone”

Amid this very challenging global situation, the Israeli market is slowly returning to normal: “Compared with 24 companies that operated here during the war including flyDubai, which flew the entire time, there are now already 60 companies operating at Ben Gurion Airport. This number will only grow, and we are on the verge of stabilizing.” Hanin mentioned that there are also important companies that are not returning at the moment – Turkish Airlines and Ryanair have removed Israel from the map, and easyJet will only return in March 2026.

On Wizz Air’s plan to establish a hub in Israel, Hanin said that El Al demands that alongside the increased competition from the Hungarian airline, there should also be equality. “A foreign company that wants to establish a hub, like Wizz Air, will be subject to different regulatory laws. Putting aside the security costs, every company that wants to fly to a new destination must have security clearance. Many times this is not possible, there is no manpower, and what’s more, Israeli companies cannot do this. Wizz Air can fly wherever it wants and whenever it wants,” he said.

Hanin rejected claims that El Al took advantage of the war to aggressively raise fares. “Our reports are public, and according to them the average price per ticket increased by a maximum of 16%. This is the factual figure,” he said. “The market behaved abnormally. We didn’t want to be alone here. El Al also has a certain difficulty when there are no airlines and we have to provide the entire State of Israel with solutions abroad. It’s not like there were planes on the ground and we didn’t provide a solution. In the end, it’s a matter of supply and demand and the gaps are not large and sometimes we are even cheaper.”

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He added, “You have to look at the overall package, what the product includes, because in the end there are difference between flights. Our flight times are the best, flights to Europe in the morning, you have a whole day to use abroad. Many foreign companies take off in the afternoon, and you waste a day and pay for a hotel. El Al fares include cabin baggage and a backpack, the crews are Israeli and in these times, you don’t know what will happen tomorrow. When you have security, not only about the flight, but also the cabin crew including medical teams are Israeli, and the pilots are Air Force pilots. There are no better pilots in the world than them.

Full disclosure: The conference was held in cooperation with Bank Hapoalim and Phoenix Group and sponsored by, Bezeq, El Al, Tnuva, Electra, Armis, Haifa Group, Hamilton Lane Israel, Doral, Shikun & Binui, BlackRock, Bazan, Pagaya, KPMG, Nespresso, Egged, Zeekr, ICL and the Israel Medical Association, and with the participation of Israel Ports. Co., Mekorot, Ashdod Port, and the Israel Innovation Authority.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on November 23, 2025.

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