The spate of Israel flight cancellations by foreign airlines, after a missile launched by the Houthi rebels from Yemen hit Ben Gurion Airport earlier this week, has created confusion and frustration among many Israelis planning to fly abroad. But investors in the shares of Israeli airlines El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE:ELAL) and Israir (TASE: ISRG), which continue to fly and have even added flights to meet higher demand, have benefitted from the situation.
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El Al’s share price has risen 12% so far in the three trading days this week, adding NIS 500 million to its current market cap of NIS 6.5 billion. Israir has risen even more sharply by 15% this week and currently has a market cap of NIS 645 million.
The biggest beneficiaries of all this are the controlling shareholders who acquired their stakes in the airlines during the aviation crisis caused by the Covid pandemic. El Al’s controlling shareholder is US businessman Kenny Rozenberg, who has a 48% stake currently worth NIS 3.12 billion, while supermarket retailer Rami Levy has a 39% stake in Israir currently worth NIS 251 million.
This is not the first time that the two airlines, and especially El Al, have profited from flight suspensions by foreign airlines. Over the past year, El Al’s share price has risen 135%, mainly due to high demand after foreign airlines abandoned Israel after the outbreak of the war, leaving El Al with a virtual monopoly on North American routes, leading to record revenue and profits. In 2024, El Al reported record revenue of NIS 3.4 billion and net profit of $545 million, 4.7 times higher than its profit in 2023.
Israir’s share price has risen 65% over the past year and the airline reported revenue of NIS 453 million in 2024 and a net profit of NIS 22 million.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on May 6, 2025.
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