'Seat occupancy is beyond expectations'
Photo courtesy of easyJet
Competition heating up on Tel Aviv-Amsterdam route
Just days after Scandinavian Airlines decided to end its service from Copenhagen to Tel Aviv, British low-cost airline easyJet is launching a new line to the Dutch capital while marking six years in Israel and two million passengers.
British low-cost airline easyJet will launch its new Amsterdam-Tel Aviv route
next week, just several days after Scandinavian Airlines decided to end its service
from Copenhagen to Tel Aviv due to the political instability in Israel.
As many as four airlines are already active on the same route - El Al, KLM, Transavia and Arkia - and there is a constant demand for additional seats. Some 298,000 passengers have flown on the Amsterdam-Tel Aviv route since the beginning of the year, a 4.27 percent increase from the same period in 2014.
The first easyJet flight on the new route will take off on Monday, October 26. The company will offer free weekly flights between Israel and the Dutch capital on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
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EasyJet began selling tickets for the new service several months ago for €49.49 (about $56) from Tel Aviv and €46.49 from Amsterdam. The prices do not include luggage, an allocated seat or food.
Amsterdam. Competition over flights to Tel Aviv is heating up (Photo: Shutterstock)
We checked the booking system again this week and found several seats on flights from Tel Aviv in November, December and January for €59.66. The cheapest price we found for a return ticket from Amsterdam was €42.32.
Neil Slaven, easyJet's commercial manager who is in charge of the line to Israel, said Tuesday that the company was very satisfied with the state of bookings on the new route to Amsterdam and that the occupancy on the flights was beyond expectations.
EasyJet, which was founded 20 years ago, began operating in Israel six years ago with flights to London Luton Airport. Over the years, it has increased the number of destinations it offers from Israel from Europe and currently operates flights to London Gatwick Airport as well, Manchester, Basel, Geneva, Rome, Berlin, Paris, Milan and now Amsterdam.
Since starting its activity in Israel till the end of September 2015, the company carried close to two million (1,992,270) passengers and is now the second most active international airline in the country after Turkish Airlines. In addition, it operates flights from Israel to more destinations than any other foreign airlines.
