Jerusalem - EasyJet will fly here within two years

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Source: haaretz.com

easyJet will fly here within two years
27.6.06 | 09:16 By Irit Rosenblum

The Tourism Ministry has begun discussions with the British low-cost airline easyJet in an effort to accelerate the firm's plans to operate flights to here, ministry director general Eli Cohen said yesterday.

The ministry has offered to assist easyJet with marketing flights or to provide a "safety net" if the flights are not full.

"The low-cost airline easyJet will fly to Israel in less than two years," Cohen told the Hoteliers' Association conference in Jerusalem. "We are also talking to Ryanair, and flights priced at $150-$200 is not an exaggeration."

Cohen said that easyJet plans to receive new planes in 2008, and is looking for new destinations. The company already has signed an agreement to operate flights to Morocco, with several other countries interested in being destinations for the low-cost airline. As a result, Israel will have to compete for bringing in easyJet.

Cohen said that bringing in the Ireland-based Ryanair is more complicated, since it would have to sign agreements in Europe to fly here, while easyJet can freely fly to Israel.

Cohen added that increasing the number of seats on flights and hotel rooms will lead to a rise in tourism. He said the ministry had reached agreements on increasing the number of flights from the united states and Germany, and that France and Spain are in the process of adding flights.

He said there is a crisis regarding flights from Ukraine, since the airline there had reneged on its agreement to operate 15 flights a week all year long due to delays caused by the country's Transportation Ministry. "This will costs us several thousands of tourists," he said.

Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson told the conference tourism is of great importance both as a financial industry and an important job source, adding that tourism will be one of the economy's most important growth engines.