Israeli airline Arkia’s CEO Oz Berlowitz, spoke to Ynet on Thursday and said that numerous obstacles are still in place before the airlines could launch direct flights to North America. Nevertheless, Berlowitz revealed the tentative baseline ticket prices if the new route comes into effect.
This comes after the Transportation Ministry announced that Arkia and Israir have received temporary approval to operate direct flights to the United States. This will add competition to El Al, which became the sole airline operating direct flights on this route after American carriers suspended operations due to the war.
"I don’t want to dampen yesterday’s excitement because the path to achieving this is as long as the flight itself," Berlowitz said. "Currently, Arkia doesn’t have wide-body aircraft capable of flying 12 hours from Israel to North America, so we need to prepare by leasing wide-body planes with at least 300 seats. We’re exploring this and already have several options."
He added, "If this happens — and I stress if — we’re looking at three weekly flights at convenient times: departures from Israel and from New York in the afternoon." Berlowitz noted that the flights would use Boeing 787 aircraft.
"The route must include at least two classes," he stressed. "There’s a significant segment of passengers who won’t fly in regular economy class but will in business class and we must cater to them. That’s the nature of this route."
Regarding prices, Berlowitz shared, "Our pricing target, if we do operate flights, will start at around $1,400–$1,500 for a round trip. However, ticket prices will fluctuate based on demand and supply as in any free market."
When asked when we might know if El Al’s monopoly on U.S. flights will be broken, he replied, "I hope to announce a decision within a week or two."
As for Israir, CEO Uri Sirkis told Ynet, "We’ll only operate flights to the U.S. if the Tibi Law is amended." Sirkis referred to the passenger rights law currently under review in the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee.
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Under the law's current version, airlines must compensate passengers if flights are canceled (including due to overbooking) or delayed by more than eight hours without providing 14 days’ notice. Compensation ranges from NIS 1,440 (about $360) for flights up to 2,000 km to NIS 3,460 (about $865) for flights over 4,500 km.