Last month an announcement was made that will dramatically change the aviation industry in Israel.
At the same time as American President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, an exciting announcement came out of Saudi Arabia: planes to and from Israel will be allowed to fly over the country's territory.
Until now, the only company allowed to fly over Saudi Arabia on flights to and from Israel, and not to the United Arab Emirates, is Air India.
But soon, as mentioned, all airlines will be allowed to do so, and the changes are beginning to be felt already now.
The meaning of the move is a significant shortening of the journey from Israel to the Far East, and the airlines are already preparing themselves for the great competition that is expected to open on the routes to India, China, Thailand and more.
El Al submitted a request to fly over Saudi Arabia already three weeks ago.
As of this writing, the official confirmation has not yet been received, but it is expected to happen this week.
Data published by the Tourism Bureau of Thailand shows that in the first half of 2022 (January to June) more than 36 thousand Israelis flew to Thailand.
This is a huge number of people, especially if compared to the number of tourists who came from other countries, which are much larger than Israel.
From Spain and Italy in the same period only about 15 thousand tourists came to Thailand (each) and from Turkey about 3,500, which means that more tourists from Israel flew to Thailand than from Spain, Italy and Turkey combined.
Following the high demand, and together with the news of the flight to Bangkok being shortened by about two hours, El Al has already added flights for the holiday period.
In honor of the occasion, the Boeing 777 aircraft, which were not in operation during most of the Corona period, will also be returned to operation.
The company also announced its intention to start operating direct flights to Tokyo in Japan, which is expected to happen only after the country opens its doors to tourists more widely and comfortably, and with fewer restrictions.
Thailand.
Closer than ever, photo: Moshe Shay
Air Seychelles has already received permission to fly over Saudi Arabia.
The Hong Kong company Cathay Pacific has also already had time to enjoy the good news, and has even decided to start operating three weekly flights on the Hong Kong-Tel Aviv route.
Although Hong Kong is still closed to tourists, the local airline has already realized that the number of Israelis interested in flying to South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, which was fully opened to tourists this week, and of course Thailand - is very high, and they must enter the competition which is expected to increase already in the coming months.
Airlines that have never operated direct flights to Israel such as Singapore Airlines and Philippine Airlines are currently examining the feasibility of operating direct flights to Israel following the shortening of the route to the east.
The fact that the Israeli tourist is considered to be one who travels more than tourists from other Western countries, comes for longer periods and naturally also spends larger sums of money, also plays a part in the decision to operate direct flights to Israel.
Another company that has already officially entered the competition is Emirates, which announced that it will double its current number of flights from Israel to the United Arab Emirates from seven flights a week to 14.
This will happen already at the end of October, with quite a few options for flights to the various Eastern destinations for the Israeli tourist.
The one that already operates dozens of flights a week from Israel is Turkish Airlines, and it is also expected to be a very strong and significant player in the competition for the Israeli tourist on flights to the East.
The great advantage of Turkish Airlines is that it is the non-low-cost foreign company that operates the most flights per day from Israel, which means that the connections with it in Istanbul are usually short and relatively convenient.
Etihad Airlines from Abu Dhabi launched very attractive promotions last week on flights from Israel to various Eastern destinations, including Singapore, India, Thailand and other destinations.
The company smelled the competition ahead of time and announced market-breaking prices, sometimes half of the normal price, for example: $491 to Bangkok, $370 to Delhi or Mumbai in India and $450 to the Seychelles.
The prices are valid for flights departing until November 30.
All this news is expected to be only the tip of the iceberg.
We will feel the real drama in the field with the actual increase in supply and the opening of more countries to visitors.
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