P. M. BRIEFING : El Al Tells $24.2-Million Profit
<i> From Times Wire Services</i>
JERUSALEM —
State-owned El Al Israel Airlines today reported profit of $24.2 million for 1989, its fourth consecutive year in the black.
The profit marked a 28.7% jump from El Al’s 1988 earnings of $18.8 million. Revenues rose 7.2% to $713.6 million from $665.3 million in 1988.
El Al said it carried 1.74 million passengers last year, 12% more than in 1988, when tourism to Israel fell sharply in the early months of a Palestinian uprising in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The sustained profitability is likely to enhance prospects of floating El Al shares on the Tel Aviv and foreign stock exchanges, proposed as part of Israel’s privatization drive.
