Posted on 02/27/20
| News Source: MATZAV
El Al airlines warned that it and other Israeli carriers could collapse financially in a matter of “weeks” due to the Health Ministry’s increasingly stringent travel restrictions and warnings related to the coronavirus, according to a Wednesday report.
In an unprecedented move, the ministry on Wednesday advised Israelis to avoid all unnecessary travel abroad, warning that the contagion was already spreading out of control. In was the latest in a series of exceptional measures, not practiced by other countries, aimed at keeping Israel isolated from the deadly pathogen.
“It’s a catastrophe,” an El Al official told the Kan public broadcaster. “The airlines here will collapse within weeks. El Al, even before the Health Ministry announcement, sustained NIS 200 million ($50 million) in damages due to the coronavirus.”
“If the state doesn’t wake up there won’t be an airline here in a matter of weeks,” the person said.
Read more at Times of Israel.