Israeli airline Arkia announced Sunday that it is extending its recently launched flights to New York through at least October due to high demand.
The carrier has also added an array of European destinations to its flight schedule ahead of the spring and summer peak aviation season.
The move by Israel’s second largest airline came just weeks after it started flights on the coveted transatlantic route, and as United Airlines and Delta Air Lines are both scheduled to resume flights between New York and Tel Aviv within the next six weeks.
“Competition is good for everybody,” Arkia CEO Oz Berlowitz said on Sunday.
He noted that the two U.S. carriers slated to soon resume service to Israel will still be operating on a reduced schedule on the route compared to before the war, and that the Israeli carrier views New York as a “strategic asset.”
Arkia is offering three weekly flights to New York for a set price of $1,200 round trip in economy.
The flights have had a 90% occupancy rate since they were launched earlier this month, Berlowitz said. The carrier had originally planned to operate the route for three months.
Arkia is currently flying to 30 destinations, including New York, with its 12-airliner fleet, a 30% increase from last year. One-third of its flights are to 11 destinations in Greece, which was the top tourist destination for Israelis last year. New destinations include Spain, Hungary and Albania.
Most foreign carriers suspended service during the war; some have resumed flights since the November ceasefire with Hezbollah or are restarting soon.
United Airlines previously announced that it will resume daily flights to Tel Aviv from its hub at Newark starting on March 15, with a second daily flight beginning on March 29, becoming the first U.S. carrier to renew service to Israel.
The move by United—which offered the most flights to Israel of any U.S. carrier before the war—followed Delta Air Lines’ earlier announcement that it would renew service to Tel Aviv from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on April 1.
The resumption of daily nonstop service by United and Delta will effectively end the monopoly Israel’s flagship carrier El Al had on the lucrative transatlantic route through most of the 15-month-long war, which sent fares skyrocketing amid charges of price gouging.
With demand strong, fares are expected to remain higher than before the war until the autumn. JNS
{Matzav.com}