El Al is to close six of its European offices within the next few days and dismiss dozens of its Israeli workers there, El Al managing director Rafael Harlev and the company’s temporary receiver, custodian-general Amram Blum, have decided.
Closure of the offices in Brussels, Copenhagen, Marseilles, Bucharest, Munich and Lisbon will save an estimated $550,000 annually. Airline sources say a list of half of the 750 permanent El Al employes who are to be dismissed has already been prepared, and the entire list will be completed shortly.
Meanwhile, the new El Al management’s plans for special $499 round-trip fares from New York to Tel Aviv and equally low fares from Tel Aviv to Europe have met with resistance from other airlines which have threatened to take action, possibly by cancelling their flights to Israel because of what they term “unfair competition.”
El Al is said to be readying “take your wife free” to Europe campaign — offering two tickets for the price of one, for a limited period until El Al’s sales organization gets back into its stride.
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