EL AL Israel Airlines petitioned the High Court of Justice last week after learning that the Antitrust Authority director general Dror Strum was considering declaringthe airline a monopoly on four routes.
The Antitrust Authority was examining, according to the company, whether El Al controls half of the volume on these routes to and from Israeland therefore subject the airline to increased regulation.It appears that the Antitrust Authority considerseach line between two cities as a separate market from the antitrust perspective. Hence, a carrier that controls more than half the passenger traffic in a market is a monopoly.
In the petition, submitted by its attorney Adv. David Tadmor, El Al and its subsidiary Sun D'or International Airlines claimed discrimination, the absence of equal treatment. El Al noted that it reserves the right to argue its case against a declaration that it is a monopoly before the Restrictive Trade Practices Tribunal.
El Al also also argued that if Strum was right Lufthansa would hold a monopoly over the Tel Aviv-Frankfurt line, Austrian Airlines have a monopoly over flights between Tel Aviv and Vienna, Swiss on the Tel Aviv-Zurich line and Arkia on the line from Tel Aviv toDublin. Israir would be a monopoly on flights to Riga.
