El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE:ELAL) CEO Dina Ben-Tal Ganancia unexpectedly announced yesterday that she is stepping down before the end of the year. Ben-Tal Ganancia was appointed CEO three years ago during which period she has been highly successful for the company, its shareholders and herself, for which she has been well rewarded.
Although El Al's share price has been falling over the past month, it has risen 160% over the past year and has a market cap of NIS 6.4 billion.
It is not yet known what Ben-Tal Ganacia's next position will be and it is possible that the 50 year old CEO has already received offers, with the market betting on management of a foreign airline operating in Israel. As for the identity of El Al's next CEO, the company's board of directors will soon begin considering candidates for the position that will become vacant at the end of the year.
The big achievement: agreements with the company's employees
Ben-Tal Ganancia was appointed CEO in April 2022, becoming the first woman to head the airline. She rose through the ranks at El Al, after 14 years at the company, previously serving as VP commercial and industry affairs and director of revenue management.
She took over as CEO during an especially challenging period. El Al had not yet recovered from the Covid pandemic, which had left it on the brink of collapse. During the two years prior to her appointment, the company recorded cumulative losses of almost $1 billion, reduced its fleet of aircraft, cut its workforce, and required financial support from the state and from the person who became the company's controlling shareholder - businessman Kenny Rosenberg.
Since Ben-Tal Ganancia assumed office in May 2022, El Al has seen a sharp recovery in business, especially after the outbreak of the war, which left the Israeli carrier almost without competition on many routes to and from Israel. This dominance translated into soaring airfares and record revenue and profits. In total, the cumulative net profit that El Al has achieved under Ben-Tal Ganancia's management to date, in just under three years, stands at NIS 2.8 billion. At the same time, the company's stock has jumped by over 300%.
During Ben-Tal Gnancia's first year in office, El Al faced a labor dispute over the Covid agreements with the state, which reduced pilots' wages and affected employment conditions. The dispute led to flight cancellations and an appeal to the Labor Court, but ended with a gradual wage agreement that restored pilots' wages to their previous level by January 2023, and ensured industrial peace.
In less than a year, Ben-Tal Ganancia settled labor relations at El Al, leading to the signing of agreements with the workers committees of the flight stewards, maintenance and engineering staff, and administrative employees, as well as the new wage agreement with the pilots, after a long crisis that culminated in the cancellation of more than 100 flights, many at the last minute.
Record profits during the war
In October 2023, the war broke out, disrupting scheduled flights to Israel. While many foreign airlines suspended services to Tel Aviv, El Al continued to operate flights as well as rescue flights for Israelis stranded abroad. The sharp increase in demand for the company's flights also led to a significant increase in airfares which led to harsh public criticism that it was taking advantage of a state of emergency.
Due to lack of competition, El Al recorded the strongest year in its history in 2024 - a net profit of $541 million - five times the profit in 2023 (which was also an excellent year). But it also had to deal with a tarnished image that developed following its business success and public criticism of its high fares. The company published its price ranges for tickets in economy class by destination - an unusual move - designed to reduce public criticism and explain the pricing policy used in the aviation industry.
The first quarter of 2025 was also excellent for El Al. The company ended the first three months of the year with net profit of $93 million, up 17% from the corresponding quarter. El Al's market share at Ben Gurion Airport in the first quarter was 44% of all flights, while on profitable routes to North America it was over 90%.
As for the second quarter, the company is expected to be affected by the 12 days of the Iran operation when Israeli airspace was closed. El Al was then mobilized for rescue flights for Israelis stranded abroad. Following the successful military operation, airspace has reopened, and competition is expected to return to Ben Gurion Airport. All of this seems to have led to a negative trend in the airline's share price, which recently lost over 10% of its value from its peak.
Over NIS 20 million remuneration
Ben-Tal Ganancia's remuneration has amounted to NIS 15 million over three years with her share options bringing this to a total of over NIS 20 million. In 2024 her salary was NIS 6.5 million, about half of which was a bonus from profits and the rest was salary and stock-based compensation. Ben-Tal Genancia's bonus is 2% of the company's profits, but it is limited to NIS 3 million per year. Without the limit, the bonus would have been NIS 36 million last year.
In January 2025, institutional shareholders at El Al thwarted a significant salary increase for Ben-Tal Genancia (a 25% salary increase) and the granting of options worth over NIS 10 million at an exercise price that was already "in the money" at the time.
At that time, there was criticism behind the scenes about the generous compensation offered to the CEO, as well as to the company's chairman, Amikam Ben-Zvi. El Al, in the view of some institutional investors, enjoyed a sharp increase in its net profit due to exceptional circumstances resulting from the closure of the skies during the war.
In place of the options, which were canceled for the CEO, El Al compensated her and the chairman with a "special bonus for 2024." The bonus was equivalent to four monthly salaries, "Due to the unusual activity and special effort of the office holders in 2024." In December about three years ago, Ben-Tal Genencia was granted options for El Al shares. In March of this year, she exercised half of them for NIS 5.3 million (less their exercise price). She still has options worth about NIS 5.4 million at the current exercise price.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 14, 2025.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.