Photo: km30192002 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
El Al filled nearly all its seats and brought in more money in the third quarter, but kept less of it as profit. Israel’s flagship airline reported revenue of about $1.27 billion, up 18% from a year earlier, while net profit fell about 14% to $175 million from $203 million, Bizportal reported Thursday.
The airline also announced a dividend of about $116 million, its second distribution this year, according to the report.
More capacity, still-full planes
The load factor, a measure of how much available seating capacity was filled, remained about 95%, similar to the same quarter last year. Capacity measured in available seat kilometers increased about 9%, while revenue per available seat kilometer rose about 7%, Bizportal reported.
Those figures show that the airline expanded flying while maintaining high occupancy. They do not, by themselves, establish what an individual passenger paid for a ticket.
Why higher revenue did not mean higher net profit
El Al cited a combined increase in expenses of about $135 million from fuel costs and exchange-rate changes during the quarter. But those pressures do not explain the entire year-over-year change in net profit.
Bizportal also reported a roughly $24 million difference between the periods from a one-time accounting expense tied to remeasurement of a phantom option. Net financing shifted from income of about $4.3 million a year earlier to an expense of about $10.5 million.
EBITDAR, a separate earnings measure before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and aircraft rent, rose about 3% to $367 million from $357 million. Operating cash flow increased about 27% to $161 million from $127 million.
Advance ticket cash is not yet revenue
At the end of September, receipts in advance from flight tickets and vouchers totaled about $1.1 billion, up about 16% from a year earlier, according to Bizportal.
That cash relates to services the airline has not yet supplied. It is a future-service liability, not another $1.1 billion of revenue already earned in the quarter. The distinction matters when comparing bookings, cash flow and reported sales.
JBizNews Desk | Israel Business
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