El Al Israel Airlines reported on Wednesday a wider net loss in the fourth quarter due to a decline in revenue in the wake of the global economic slowdown.

El Al posted a quarterly net loss of USD$9.4 million compared with a loss of USD$5.3 million a year earlier.

Revenue in the quarter fell 11 percent to USD$465.3 million, due to a decline in revenue from both passenger and cargo flights.

The airline's profit was also hurt by USD$35.6 million in payments for long-term hedging contracts on the cost of jet fuel as the price of oil plunged. In the year-earlier quarter El Al had a gain of USD$6.7 million from hedging.

Operating expenses fell 4.6 percent to USD$402 million.

The company said it cut 200 jobs in the fourth quarter.