El Al fined for abusing hangar monopoly

Israel Competition Authority Commissioner Adv. Michal Cohen today announced that she will impose a financial sanction on El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE:ELAL) of NIS 109,623,501, subject to a hearing. She will also impose personal fines of between NIS 449,000 and NIS 548,000 each on two El Al executive officers.

This is the second fine imposed on El Al recently after it was fined NIS 121 million for price gouging for ‘exorbitant fares’ during the war. That fine is also subject to a hearing.

The two fines together, totaling NIS 232 million, will constitute 6.7% of El Al’s profits during the war (from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the third quarter of 2025). El Al’s net profit was $950 million from the outbreak of the war in October 2023 to the third quarter of 2025.

Refused to give Arkia access to hangars

According to the notification sent to El Al and its executive officers today, the Competition Authority’s investigation found that El Al refused to provide Arkia with access to hangar services for aircraft maintenance.

For years, according to an agreement between El Al and Arkia, Arkia has been renting hangars owned by El Al for maintaining its aircraft. Hangar access is an important part of Arkia’s regular operations.

According to the Competition Authority’s probe, starting in August 2024, during the war, El Al began to consistently refuse Arkia’s requests to rent the hangars for servicing its aircraft, regardless of whether the hangars were available or not. This was a policy that El Al called “gentle refusal,” in which El Al explained its refusal with false justifications, while telling Arkia there had been no change in El Al’s willingness to uphold the agreement between the companies.

El Al has a monopoly on the hangar market for handling passenger aircraft in Israel, as well as on many destinations outside Israel. El Al and Arkia compete on some of the destinations to and from Israel.

The violation occurred during the war, when many foreign airlines stopped operating in Israel for periods, and the almost sole competition to El Al came from Israeli airlines, including Arkia.

Harm to competition and exposure to risks

According to the Competition Authority’s announcement, El Al’s conduct could have harmed Arkia’s competitive ability and exposed it to economic, safety and image risks.

Possible harm to Arkia’s ability to handle malfunctions and perform the necessary inspections and treatments on its aircraft could have led to cancellations or significant delays in Arkia flights.

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Beyond the direct harm to passengers, this could have exposed Arkia to lawsuits and reputation risk, thereby harming its competitive ability.

In addition, finding solutions for handling El Al’s overdue aircraft in hangars involves costs, which could have been passed on to consumers.

The Competition Authority said, “In these actions, El Al has unreasonably refused to provide a monopoly service in violation of the prohibition set forth in Section 29 of the Competition Law, and has also abused its position as a monopoly holder, in a manner that could reduce competition in the field of passenger transport in Israel and harm the public.”

During the hearing, El Al and its executive officers will be given the opportunity to present their claims to the Competition Commissioner before a final decision is made on the matter.

El Al in response: No wrongdoing was found

El Al responded: “El Al disputes the statement in the Commissioner’s letter. El Al is careful to always act in accordance with all legal provisions, including competition law provisions. We are convinced that there was no wrongdoing in the company’s actions.

“Throughout the entire war period, El Al acted to assist Israeli airlines far beyond what was required by law, out of a sense of solidarity and commitment to the passenger public in Israel. El Al provided and continues to provide Arkia with various services and also hangars, in so far as it is able to do so.”

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on February 23, 2026.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.