El Al Postage Stamp. 1962.Is Israel’s El Al Airlines heading for bankruptcy? Switzerland’s Swissair and Belgium’s Sabena are long gone. Alitalia — Italy’s national carrier and the papal airline — recently entered bankruptcy proceedings (again). And who even remembers Cyprus Airways, flyLAL, or Malev? Israel’s flagship newspaper Haaretzthinks Israel’s flagship airline may be next.
El Al shares are down 70% year over year, according to the article, whose author suggests that the decline has less to do with rising fuel costs and more to do with mismanagement and poor planning.
El Al bought or leased 16 new planes, but didn’t plan for an orderly transition to them. One major headache is the contractual limitation that El Al pilots can only fly one type of aircraft. Ninety pilots have qualified for, or are in the process of qualifying for, the company’s new jets. So they can no longer fly an older model, in spite of their standing certifications to do so. But El Al only has four new planes. That’s over 20 pilots per plane who aren’t permitted to fly anything else.
A prolific writer and avid photographer, J.M. Hoffman picked up his first camera when he was eight years old. And even though he abhors a cliche, he never looked back.
Acclaimed as a "master raconteur" who writes with a "flair" (Times Literary Supplement of London), Hoffman authored two non-fiction books and contributed to over a dozen others before writing The Warwick Files. He continues to write fiction and non-fiction.
In addition to writing and traveling the world lecturing about his books, Hoffman has also directed a dance troupe, taught darkroom technique, and explored Patagonia on horseback. From time to time he can be seen playing table tennis poorly at the WTCC. He lives just north of New York City.
