UK airline easyJet expects to fly approximately 100,000 passengers to Israel and back in 2010 on the Tel Aviv-London route and on the new Tel Aviv-Geneva route, which will begin operating at the end of August. This is according to Oliver Aust, head of corporate affairs at easyJet, who spoke to "Globes" today while on a visit to Israel.
Aust says that the airline's operations on the Tel Aviv-London route, which was inaugurated last November, have exceeded expectations, and that so far it has flown 17,000 passengers. The airline flies the route 6 times a week, and offers flights to and from Luton Airport, near London, with fares starting at £136 (NIS 770) each way. Prices rise in accordance with the rate of ticket sales, and may reach £150 (NIS 849).
According to Aust, data collected by the company to date indicate that approximately 60% of the passengers on the route are British people vacationing in Israel. "Throughout Europe, there has developed a vacation culture around low-cost airlines, and our customers scan the website to find cheap vacations. Since we introduced Israel in the list of destinations, many British people who sought to vary their vacation destinations have been booking tickets. On the new Geneva-Tel Aviv route too we are seeing a good level of bookings from Swiss and Israelis".
Aust does not rule out the possibility that easyJet, which operates from 20 centers across Europe, will in future operate flights to Israel from additional centers. "We are working step by step and establishing air routes one at a time. If the London and Geneva routes are successful, we will open more routes." p>Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 21, 2010
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