Air Haifa maiden Cyprus flight returns virtually empty

New Israeli low-cost airline Air Haifa took off yesterday morning (Monday) on its maiden flight on the Tel Aviv-Larnaca route. When the airplane returned from Larnaca, the passengers have been shocked to search out that it was virtually empty. At this era, a peak season within the Israeli aviation trade, an empty airplane is an uncommon phenomenon, significantly now, when the safety escalation has led to intensive flight cancellations, and demand is focused on a small variety of airways nonetheless working in Israel.

Lower than every week in the past, the European Union’s aviation security company EASA rescinded the advice to not fly in Israeli skies, which it issued shortly after the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary Common Hassan Nasrallah on the finish of September. The advice exacerbated the wave of cancellations that had begun even earlier than it was issued, and precipitated many airways to droop their operations in Israel.

Though the advice has been eliminated, three airways introduced yesterday that they might lengthen their freezes on flights to Israel: Air France, Neos, and Aegean. They be part of Wizz Air and Lot, which have introduced the suspension of flights within the final two days.

Air Haifa didn’t take off from Haifa Airport as deliberate, however from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, however there was doubt about whether or not it could function in any respect presently, and never only for safety causes. Trade consultants questioned whether or not Haifa Airport might be revived, due to its restricted infrastructure and incapacity to increase its runways. The additionally forged doubt on the low-cost mannequin of the corporate, which, in contrast to different low-cost corporations, operates small planes with few seats.

As passengers testified, some tickets for Air Haifa’s return flight from Larnaca have been bought for simply $60, ostensibly making it very enticing for Israelis left stranded overseas by cancellations by different airways.

In contrast with Air Haifa, when Romanian airline Bees Airways started working flights at Ben Gurion in September, it managed to fill its maiden flight from Bucharest fully.

Why ought to a Romanian airline achieve filling a airplane from Bucharest, whereas an Israeli airline fails to do the identical from Larnaca? Aviation sources say that demand has fallen prematurely of the Sukkot vacation, regardless of expectations of peak demand on this interval. Additionally they clarify that the navy escalation previously month and the intensive drafting of reserve troopers have affected the issues of Israelis in deciding whether or not to journey.

In different developments in aviation in Israel, Arkia has launched a brand new direct path to Manchester, whereas Cyprus Airways has restored service to Israel and Air Seychelles is about to take action.

There has additionally been a pointy rise within the variety of passengers turning up for flights carrying weapons. Figures from the Safety Division at Ben Gurion Airport present that varied weapons have been discovered within the hand baggage of dozens of passengers in September. The phenomenon has worsened previously few days, in opposition to a background of elevated safety pressure and the expansion within the variety of civilians carrying handguns.

Printed by Globes, Israel enterprise information – en.globes.co.il – on October 15, 2024.

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