El Al chief Usishkin to step down in January

Israeli flag-carrier El Al’s CE Gonen Usishkin is to step down from his position in January next year, three months after a board shake-up by the airline’s new controlling shareholder. Usishkin was named as the airline’s head in early 2018. He oversaw the transformation of El Al’s fleet, as it withdrew its Boeing 747-400s and 767-300ERs and replaced them with 787s. But El Al’s profits had sharply declined before Usishkin’s tenure, and the airline sank into net losses of $52m during his first year in charge – losses which deepened to $60m the following year. The onset of the pandemic and subsequent air transport crisis earlier this year pushed the struggling carrier into a serious crisis, and Usishkin has had to navigate a difficult course to give El Al a chance of rescue and survival. “An exact [date] has not yet been set,” it states. El Al has not named any potential successor to Usishkin.<br/>