Minister of Transport Israel Katz today notified Arkia Airlines Ltd. and Israir Airlines and Tourism Ltd. that he plans to allow El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) to add an extra daily flight to Eilat, on the basis of recommendations by the Israel Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA). El Al currently operates three daily flights between Ben Gurion Airport and Eilat.
The ICAA recommends that El Al increase the number of seats on its Eilat route to 580 per day, from the current 430 seats, on four daily flights.
Katz will make the final decision, after a hearing with Arkia and Israir. At the same time, Katz announced that he will ban El Al's issuing of free or sharply discounted fares to Eilat for international passengers. Currently, El Al offers discounted fares to its frequent flier passengers.
Katz said that increasing the frequency of flights to Eilat would increase competitiveness on the route and further reduce fares following the reduction in the past year. He said that this would also help fulfill the route's potential.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 8, 2011
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