The airline El Al is about to cut 1.500 jobs. There are also plans to reduce the fleet by 26 machines and to give up the Sun d'Or charter brand. The union has already announced resistance.

El Al wants to reduce the current fleet of 45 aircraft to 29 or fewer jets. A cover letter to the workforce shows that the company wants to focus on the North American business in the future and therefore wants to give up numerous European routes. Therefore, the fleet reduction will mainly affect the Boeing 737 model.

The workforce is to be reduced by 1.500 to 2.800 employees. There are currently around 1.400 employees on unpaid leave. Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, around 2.000 employees have already been cut, or many of them have voluntarily left El Al and reoriented themselves elsewhere.

The union is critical of the measures, as it is assumed that the recovery of air traffic will lead to an increased need for staff. Therefore, the reduction of permanent employees is considered counterproductive and calls for government intervention.

The Sun d'Or brand, under which charter and holiday flights have been operated since 1977, is to be abandoned. However, the last word has not yet been spoken here, as El Al boss Avigal Soreq said that they want to expand activities in the area of ​​package tours. At the same time, he added that in order for the offshoot to continue, administrative and operating costs would have to be drastically reduced. It is therefore necessary to await the further fate of Sun d'Or.