El Al leaves Manchester route behind
Airline’s decision not to renew direct flights from Manchester to Tel Aviv infuriates Jewish community in British city. ‘El Al has abandoned us,’ says community member
The Jewish community in Manchester is furious with El Al for discontinuing its direct flights from Manchester to Tel Aviv.
Amongst other things, community members claim that the decision puts a dent in tourism to Israel, deters Jews in northern Britain from visiting other countries, and makes it difficult for Israelis to attend football games in the northern England.
“Up until 2001, El Al operated two direct flights from Manchester to Tel Aviv per week,” said Stephen Isaacson, a member of the Jewish community in Manchester.
“The Intifada caused a thinning of passengers and El Al decided to cancel the route. In the meantime, the Intifada has ended and members of the Jewish community in Manchester and other northern cities like Leeds, Liverpool, New Castle, Edinburgh, and Glasgow thought the sentence would pass, but El Al never brought back the service,” Isaacson said.
As a result, visitors from northern England are forced to fly to London and either board an El Al flight to Israel, or a Lufthansa, KLM, or British Airways flight which also include a stopover on the way.
Isaacson claimed both options cost more money and add about 8-12 hours of wasted airport and air time to the trip, compared to the direct flight which took only five hours.
'Need for direct flight only growing’
“Our community feels abandoned by El-Al," says Isaacson, "and that's why I've decided to take action and launch a website that will send our message to the airline."
The new website includes a questionnaire and petition to resume the desired service, and people were quick to respond. Within several days the website collected signatures representing almost 3,000 potential passengers, some of whom visit Israel almost three times a year.
"Responses to the questionnaire bring up some points that merit discussion," said Isaacson.
Less people choose to visit Israel if they have to switch flights – meaning Israel is loosing tourists. Jews in Britain are increasingly detaching from Israel, choosing take their holidays elsewhere.
The need for a direct line from Manchester has only increased over the past five years since many families have immigrated to Israel and many Israelis have married British locals – both increasing the need for easier access between the two locations.
Israelis who are interested in flying to northern Britain to attend soccer matches are also discouraged by the complications that could be solved if there were direct flights.
Isaacson had one final claim: "Israel receives millions of shekels in aid from the Jewish community in Manchester, and despite this fact we see no reciprocation from the Israeli El-Al. The Jewish community is deeply frustrated by the situation."
The adamant activism to restore the flights has already found its way to the local and national Jewish media. Isaacson, a lawyer by profession, plans to make a simultaneous plea to El-Al and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism to bring the direct line back to life.
"There's no doubt that all sides in question - El Al, the state of Israel and the residents of northern England seeking to visit Israel – only stand to gain here."
An El Al spokesman responded to the request, saying that the airline routinely examines its network of destinations in accordance with business projections and the airline's capabilities.
He said that the company is indeed reviewing the related data and if indeed the restoration of the line will correspond with economic and logistical demands, the company will be happy to offer its direct service to passengers from Manchester and northern Britain.
At this point, however, the company offers flights to Israel via London or other destinations throughout Europe.
