Low-cost airline Thomsonfly, owned by German tour operator TUI AG (XETRA: TUI), today made its first flight to Ben Gurion Airport from Luton London Airport. The airline promises to sell 10% of tickets at $99 one-way. The price of the remaining tickets will rise as the reservation date nears.
Thomsonfly will operate 200-seat Boeing 737 on the route. The airline will make three weekly flights each to Luton and Manchester.
Aviation sources predict that the other 90% of tickets will be sold at close to the prices offered by scheduled carriers, because of the high price of jet fuel. Thomsonfly’s price does not include meals, beverages, or luggage handling, which are priced separately. Reserved seating also costs extra. For example, the airline charges $12 one-way for meals, $10 for luggage handling, and $10 for a reserved seat. The add-ons could result in a price tag of about $300 for a round trip flight at the cheaper rate.
For the sake of comparison, the basic price of a London-Tel Aviv round-trip ticket is $555 on British Airways (LSE:BA), $469 on El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL), and $419 on charter airline Israir Airlines and Tourism Ltd. These prices include all flight services, but can rise depending on the date the flight is booked, the date for the flight, and the flexibility of tickets.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on November 1, 2007
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