Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) president Moshe Keret says that the heavily restructured group is on course to return to profit this year on the back of booming sales and a growing orderbook.
Sales reached $1.4 billion in 1996 and are expected to climb to a record $1.6 billion this year. Keret adds that 90% of the sales are already covered by signed contracts. Israel's largest defence and aerospace manufacturer also expects to win new orders worth more than $2 billion over the coming year, bringing the backlog to a high of over $3 billion.
Losses continued in 1996, with the deficit being put at around $80 million, although that includes the cost of redundancies under the restructuring.
Source: Flight International