El Al to lose $160 million in 2001 - report

Israel's state-run airline El Al will post record losses of $160 million in 2001 as tourism suffers due to the Palestinian uprising, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronothreported today.

The company, which lost $109 million last year, needs to reduce expenses by 25 per cent to carry on operating,

Yedioth

quoted an El Al source as saying.

Voluntary redundancies have been taken up by just 200 workers out of a planned 500. A programme to withdraw six old Boeing 747-200 planes from service is in doubt and may be only partially done, the paper reported.