CEO El Al announced that following the crisis in the tourism industry, dramatic steps will be taken in the company, including cuts and layoffs: • We were amazed to receive the CEO's letter
EL AL plane at Ramon airport // Photo: Yehuda Ben Yachat
The past month has brought a severe blow to the tourism and aviation industry. Companies are laying off workers, taking free vacations, and many around the world are choosing to give up the vacations they have planned and stay in homes. One of the companies that suffered the most severe blows is El Al, which has already begun an extensive layoff process. Israelair and Arkia also saw quite a few layoffs, and major tourism companies, including Esta and Gulliver, changed their practices and took workers on leave for free. If the situation continues, the companies will have to take even more extreme steps, which could hurt thousands of workers in the tourism industry in Israel.
El Al Employees' Committee
Gonen Ussishkin, El Al's CEO, issued a statement that the company is expected to take a number of dramatic measures in the near future, including cuts, reduced demand due to layoffs, layoffs and new hires being stopped. " In the number of passengers on destinations where there are several daily frequencies and in some cases even canceling a single flight from the flight schedule and passengers wishing to fly we offer alternative flights, "wrote Ussishkin, adding:" We have known crises in the past but surely the challenge presented by us is one of the most complex and difficult. "
The big challenge asked about having to deal with compared to large airlines around the world is the fact that El Al is not a government company. Turkish Airlines, Chinese companies, Aeroflot and many other government-backed airlines, and their chances of ending the crisis are higher than El Al's, which has to find painful and creative solutions to deal with the situation.
The spread of the virus initially caused cancellations mainly to Asian destinations, but in recent days, especially since the spread in Italy, there has also been a wave of cancellations to other destinations where we see an alarming increase in the number of people, including France (about 220 infected), Germany (about 250 infected), Spain (About 200 infected) and other countries in Europe.
In the United States, there were a few cases of infection relative to the size of the country, but the number of tests conducted there amounts to only about 500, compared with South Korea, where more than 100,000 tests were conducted or Italy, where there were about 25,000 corona tests. This may indicate that there are quite a few infections in the United States that have not yet been detected. Yesterday, the head of the Ministry of Health's epidemic treatment cited Dr. Tal Brosh in Network B, who said that the Ministry of Health is considering additional steps, including checks for returning from the United States. It is important to note that many decision-makers are currently considering travel warnings to other destinations around the world. And among them to other European countries.
El Al CEO, Gonen Ussishkin // Photo: Yossi Zeliger
El Al's employees responded, according to the company's CEO: "We were amazed to receive the CEO's letter, while sitting with representatives of the Histadrut and government representatives to try to formulate an outline for saving the company. We call on the company's management not to make unilateral decisions, and we also urge the company's employees not to address the CEO's letter and wait for updates and instructions from the employee representative. We promise - El Al is the home of all of us and will do everything to save it. "
