easyJet plc (LSE: EZJ), one of the world's low-cost pioneers, has inaugurated a Tel Aviv-Basel route, with three weekly flights on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Fares begin at €35.90 (about NIS 170) one-way.
In practice, however, the number of seats at this fare are very limited, as usual with low-cost airlines. The flights leave Ben Gurion Airport at 1:40 pm and arrive at 17:20 pm.
easyJet is also expanding its route between Ben Gurion Airport and Luton Airport north of London to include a Friday flight. The airline will now make seven weekly flights on this route, up from six. From the end of the month, easyJet will operate four weekly flights between Tel Aviv and Geneva.
easyJet is currently Britain's largest airline, and the fourth largest in Europe, carrying 46 million passengers in 2009. It began flying to Israel in November 2009.
As a low-cost airline, easyJet sells tickets on its website. Each fare has a very limited number of seats. Passengers must also pay for additional services, including luggage handling at check-in.
Belying the promises of especially low fares, an investigation by "Globes" found that "low cost" is not necesarily cheapest. For example, for the week of Rosh Hashana (September 6-13), reservations on British Airways for full service flights from Tel Aviv to London are more than 10% cheaper than the limited service flights on its rival, easyJet.
British Airways is offering a round-trip fare of $688 between Ben Gurion Airport and Heathrow (including meals and luggage handling). El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) is offering a round-trip fare of $721 to London. easyJet's fare is ₤490 (about $760), not including meals and luggage, to the more distant airport at Luton.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 19, 2010
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