Israel approves El Al airlines aid package that includes share issue

Israel approved on Sunday a bailout package for flag carrier El Al Israel Airlines ELAL.TA that has the government covering 685m shekels ($210m) of company security costs and the airline issuing new shares and freezing dividend payments. The Finance Ministry said the state agreed to pay a lump sum that would cover 20 years of tickets for flight security officials. A similar deal worth 52m shekels was approved for smaller local rival Israir. The assistance, the ministry said, was conditioned on El Al shareholder commitment to issue $105m in new shares and to freeze dividend allotments for the next five years.<br/>