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The Low Coast Revolution in Israel | Israel today

2019-12-03T15:59:12.944Z


Tourism


In 2013, the Open Sky Revolution entered our lives and changed the aviation industry • The market opened, prices plunged, and Israelis flooded Ben Gurion Airport • What is next?

  • Rainier

    Photography:

    Oren Ben Hakun

The last decade has been the most significant, revolutionary, dramatic and influential in aviation in Israel since the establishment of the state. This decisive assertion is accompanied by data indicating that the State of Israel has become a mini-empire when it comes to aviation, even if we are not yet at Singapore level.

In 2013, the Open Sky Revolution, led by then-Minister of Transport Israel Katz, came into our lives - the great revolution that changed the aviation industry in Israel. Since the implementation of the Open Sky Policy, the number of airlines operating in Israel has risen by about 50%. Ben Gurion Airport has moved from the small airports category to the world's largest airport category with about 25 million passengers a year.

At present, almost 150 airlines operate at Ben Gurion Airport, flying about 200 destinations on direct flights from Israel. Iyer, Izzy Jet and Rainier.

Price drop

According to the Airports Authority, the open sky reform has caused a 30% -50% drop in flights from Israel. According to the Gulliver booking site, the largest drop in prices was mainly attributed to Eastern European destinations, an average reduction of about 50% of the ticket price before the open sky agreement was signed. Among the most prominent destinations to see a dramatic fall in prices are Amsterdam with $ 614 in the past and $ 359 in air tickets today. A plane ticket to London cost an average of $ 718 in 2012 and today the price is about $ 450. The biggest drop was in flights to Romania priced at $ 675 in 2012 and today priced at an average of $ 260, a decrease of about 61% from the ticket price.

Considerable increase over the years // Photo: GettyImages

Connection flights have become popular with the Israeli traveler and have reached distant destinations at accessible prices. Nowadays, flights to New York can be found for about $ 400 and sometimes even less, depending on the season, when at the beginning of the decade, prices ranged around a thousand dollars per ticket. The fall in prices for New York is an example that also applies to destinations in the Far East such as Tokyo, Hanoi, Beijing or destinations in South and Central America such as Rio, Havana, Buenos Aires and dozens of other fascinating destinations.

Gulliver's data also shows that in the past decade, Israeli travelers relied primarily on travel agents. At present, about 90% of bookings abroad are made via the Internet and about 40% of bookings are made via mobile phone.

Another interesting statistic is that since the Open Sky Agreement, passenger traffic has jumped by more than 66%, with growth in Israel more than twice the global growth rate of international flights. Of the five leading airlines for the largest number of passengers in Ben Gurion Airport, two are Low Coast Wiz Air and Easy Jet.

EasyJet // Photo: GettyImages

The Low Coast flights, following the Open Sky reform, have become significant growth engines in Israel's aviation industry. The significant increase in Low Coast membership activity between 2014 and 2018 is one of the top three Ben Gurion Airport companies: Easy Jet, Wiz Air and Ryanair. Often, even at hilarious prices of just a few dozen dollars, that didn't make much sense until a few years ago.

Direct flights to Europe recorded an average annual growth of approximately 1.2 million passengers between 2014 and 2018. The average annual increase between 2014 and 2018 on flights to Turkey was on the order of 200,000 passengers.

In the summer of 2019, all passenger traffic records on international flights at Ben Gurion Airport were broken - 5.5 million passengers passed through Ben Gurion Airport in July and August alone. During the four summer months and holidays, more than ten million passengers passed through Ben Gurion Airport. Terminal 1 has also opened in recent years following the Low Coast revolution. About 18% of all passengers in Ben Gurion Airport in the past year passed through one terminal, about 2.4 million.

Ramon airport

Ramon Airport // Photo: Yehuda Ben Ya'ah

Many airlines have changed their ticket policies in recent years as a result of the success of the Low Coast companies, and so you can see El Al, Lufthansa, Lot and many other airlines offering the option of buying airline tickets with small bags, in models similar to those of the cheaper airlines. There is no doubt that this is a significant change caused by the consumer's confidence in the Low Coast companies.

Along with the significant increase and growth of the aviation sector in the center of the country, this year also opened the Ramon airport, which brings with it an important line for all residents of the State of Israel and the residents of the South in particular. Flights from Ramon are cheaper than Ben Gurion Airport, thanks to quite a few factors, most of which are the low costs to airlines and choppers they receive from the state for their arrival in Ramon. Airports Authority.

With the face forward

According to the plan, the airport will make adjustments and upgrades of NIS 5.9 billion in GNP infrastructure. The infrastructure adjustment will be made in the immediate term for the interim period, until projects are completed that will respond to the GNP infrastructure increase in accordance with the increase in passenger traffic.

The expansion of the new terminal at Ben Gurion Airport will add an additional 58,000 square meters in a four-story structure, the addition of a new HBS (luggage array), the addition of a new separate screening system, the addition of 86 check-in counters, the expansion of the existing duty free, the addition of four. Conveyors in honor of incoming passengers, expansion of border inspection hall and inspection area for the honor and construction of the fifth arm of Ben Gurion Airport, expansion of parking lot, Chabad interchange, and establishment of a central aircraft control unit.

Source: israelhayom

All life articles on 2019-12-03

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