Israel's El Al airline appeals to PM Netanyahu to save it

El Al called on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to save it Wednesday, rejecting what it said were impossible conditions for state-backed loans. Israel’s government is demanding an overhaul of El Al, including layoffs, before agreeing to a lifeline. The cash-strapped airline has been locked in negotiations with Finance Ministry officials over Israel backing a $400m loan to help it through the coronavirus crisis. Foreign visitors are barred from entering the country and incoming Israelis must be quarantined, which combined with a global fall in demand for travel has hit El Al hard. El Al CEO Gonen Usiskin said in a letter to Netanyahu that the demands would send the airline into liquidation. “We ask that you instruct the Finance Ministry to amend the plan,” Usishkin wrote, adding it “refuses to connect El Al to a ventilator, as most countries in the world have done”. El Al has committed to refunding the value of unused tickets to customers totalling US$285m, but if it goes bankrupt, customers would lose this money, he said.<br/>