El Al Israel Airlines would like to return to Canada, but there is “no date circled on the calendar” for that to happen, admits the carrier’s Sr. VP Sales for North America.
“This may not be the answer that you’d ideally like to get, but it’s just not there,” Marc Cavaliere told an audience of travel agents at a recent gathering at the Israeli Consulate in Toronto.
He added, “I’m not going to perpetuate unrealistic expectations (or) hypotheticals. I’d rather share what the facts are… and the realities of what the economics are.”
El Al mothballed its Canadian service last October – one of many global airlines grappling with a new post-pandemic marketplace in the face of labour and equipment shortages, amongst other problems.
The airline exec said it was a “tough decision” to suspend its flights from Canada – a decision it did not want to make – and that “nothing has changed since we broke the news.”
And while he told agents, “We know that you sold El Al and that you tremendously supported us,” he added, “but ultimately that doesn’t take away the facts of the economics” that the service is currently not feasible for the El Al, which suffered “numerous periods of financial loss exacerbated by the pandemic.”
Moreover, in a chaotic year for the airline industry, offering a service subject to cancellations, delays, airport overcrowding, etc, was not the service that El Al’s Canadian partners and clients deserved, he said.
And while hopes are to return again in full to the market, Cavaliere said frankly there are no plans to do so in the immediate future.
However, he quickly added, “We have suspended non-stop service into Canada, but we have certainly not suspended working here…”
But rather than looking back, Cavaliere stated “We are focussing on flying forward, moving forward into the new environment that (is affecting) all of us… We have to be able to deal with the realities of what we’ve got today and partner to move forward to best incorporate what our objectives are, along with the partnerships we form, to make this all possible.”
That includes the appointment the Toronto-based representation firm Discover the World, headed by Justin Gosling, who addressed the audience and introduced the newly hired Sharon Minos as national sales manager for the El Al in Canada.
“Sharon will be out on the road helping the trade,” Gosling declared, noting that El Al operates from multiple US gateways, such as Boston, New York, and Newark, which are notably accessible via El Al partners such as Porter, WestJet and American Airlines and through Canadian gateways that offer US customs pre-clearance, such as Toronto and Ottawa.
He adds that El Al will continue to develop its interline and codeshare partnerships, including working to create convenient connections through European gateways.
Stating that El Al is still “the bridge to Israel,” Cavaliere vowed, “I want to reassure you that we are committed to being here in Canada – even though it may not be with non-stop service at the moment.”
“It’s not necessarily the best news,” he added, “but this is the reality, and it’s now time to move forward and continue to build.”