El Al's share price up 70% since December

With its prospects ranging from extinction to new opportunities as pandemic-related restrictions are lifted, El Al's share price has been correspondingly volatile. The share price of El Al has changed direction in the past two months. After reaching its lowest level for more than a decade in December, because of the coronavirus pandemic and the severe blow that that dealt to the global travel industry, the share price started to climb, and it is now up 70% from that low, at NIS 3.5 (the level it was at in late October last year). Despite that, the return on El Al stock over the past three years is still a negative 60%, and the company's market cap is currently NIS 560m, and this after it has raised substantial equity capital in the past two years to improve its financial position amid the effects of the pandemic. The volatility in El Al's share price is a consequence of the extreme environment in which the company currently operates: on the one hand, the imposition of restrictions on flights in Israel and around the world threatens the company's very existence, while on the other hand recovery in the global tourism and aviation industries creates new opportunities for it. This week, the Israeli government approved substantial relaxations for incoming tourism and flights, due to come into effect at the beginning of March, among them allowing unvaccinated travelers to enter Israel, cancelation of quarantine for unvaccinated foreigners, and cancelation of the requirement for a Covid-19 test before departure for Israel. Since the forthcoming relaxations were reported, there has been a substantial rise in bookings for flights to and from Israel. El Al plans to restore routes that were halted during the pandemic, such as direct flights from Tel Aviv to Boston.<br/>