This week, WOW Airlines announced that they are offering flights from New York to Israel beginning at $150 for a single flight. There are additional costs for paying for luggage, and there will also be a short stopover in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, but this still is a very major development, in providing cheaper flights from the USA to Israel.
This is not an isolated story, but is part of a general trend in Israel; over the past few years, there has been an incredible growth in the number of airlines flying to Israel, and flight prices keep dropping. Many European low cost airlines now operate multiple routes to Israel. Ryanair, one of the largest low cost airlines, offers flights from 15 cities to Israel. Easyjet, the low cost British airline, now flies nine routes to Tel Aviv, and flies in more people to Israel than any company except for El Al. In fact, Ben Gurion Airport recently re-opened its Terminal 1, which will be uniquely for low cost airlines coming in from Europe, alongside its Terminal 3 for all other flights from the USA and around the world.
The growth of flights to Israel is truly international. Two major Asian airlines, Hainan Airlines, and Cathay Pacific, have also opened direct flights routes to Israel since the beginning 2016. In total, over 140 companies now have flights to Israel.
Israel’s tourism sector is growing in leaps and bounds. April 2017 was the most successful month ever for Israeli tourism, with close to 350,000 tourists entering Israel in that month. Israel was always an attractive destination for tourists, with a wealth of important religious and historical sites, as well as an exciting and vibrant culture today. Now that there are even more flights, for ever falling prices, more and more people are able to visit the Holy land and the Start-Up Nation.
Contributed by Aron White, CAMERA intern