The Germans are coming
Some 45 weekly flights to be operated this summer from Germany to Israel; airlines expect 30% rise in number of passengers traveling to Tel Aviv
Airlines and tourism wholesalers believe that the upcoming summer will belong to Germany. Charter companies and regular airlines will be adding more than 10 flights from the European country ahead of the summer, expecting a 30% rise in the number of passengers traveling to Tel Aviv.
According to the forecast, some 45 weekly flights will be operated this summer from Germany-Tel Aviv line.
One of the reasons for the reinforcement of this line is the anticipated rise in pilgrimage tourism ahead of Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming visit to Israel in May.
In spite of the financial crisis and the drop in tourist entries and the exits of Israelis abroad, it has been revealed that the line between Israel to Germany showed a smaller drop than the average decline in flights from and to Israel.
The Holiday Lines company announced recently that it would be operating flights to five German destinations this summer, including two new exclusive ones: Weeze (near Dusseldorf) and Friedrichshafen (near Lake Constance) in the Bodensee area. The company will also continue operating its exclusive flight to Baden and its flights to Berlin and Munich.
The TUI tourism corporation will operate eight weekly flights to Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Hamburg and Memmingen.
The Lufthansa airline, which has 14 weekly flights between Tel Aviv and Frankfurt, will add as of May four weekly flights on the line to Munich. The company is expected to receive an approval to operate the new line from Germany's civil aviation authority, and has already begun selling tickets.
The El Al airline will operate at least 12 weekly flights throughout the summer on the lines to Frankfurt, Berlin and Munich, in addition to flights to Berlin operated by the Israir and Arkia airlines.
Last year saw 841,606 passengers fly between Tel Aviv and Germany, with 61% of them traveling with Germany companies (Lufthansa and TUI) and the rest using Israeli companies, mostly El Al.
Most of the passengers flew to German destination, but quite a few passengers continued to other destinations in Europe or North America. The same applies to passengers who arrived from Germany to Israel.
According to the Israel Airports Authority (IAA), this figure reflects a 9.78% rise compared to 2007. January of 2009 saw an 11% drop in the number of passengers flying from Israel to Germany, but this decline was lower than the average drop in the number of passengers from Israel, which stood at about 15%.
