(Communicated by the Ministry of Tourism)

Ben-Gurion International Airport recently inaugurated a new passenger hall for low-cost international flights in Terminal 1. This, as part of the preparations for the expected increase in budget flights to and from Israel following the Open Skies Agreement that was signed with the European Union in April 2013 and will gradually take effect over the next five years.

There are 15 airlines that operate low cost flights from Israel. Low-cost airlines currently using the  terminal include EasyJet, Jet2, Wizz Air and Norwegian Air. Thanks to the opening of the new passenger hall, the number of weekly low cost flights operating out of Ben Gurion airport have increased from 22 to 55 over the2013/2014 winter season.

The first flight to land at the terminal, with passengers entering the new passenger hall, was by the British airline easyJet.  EasyJet currently operates regular flights between Tel Aviv and five European destinations – Luton and Manchester in the UK, Geneva and Basel in Switzerland and Rome, Italy.  EasyJet will add three weekly flights on the Tel Aviv-Berlin route starting February 2014.

ELAL is also planning to operate new low-cost flights. Starting in March, ELAL will operate five Boeing 737 airplanes to Budapest, Berlin and Prague with the hope of extending their budget flights to Cyprus and Greece in the near future as well.  Unlike other low-cost airlines that can only be booked on-line, ELAL has decided that it will market the flights through travel agents as well as on-line.  In addition the ELAL budget flights will still have cancellation policies and will be subject to Israel Airline Regulations.

It is expected that the Open Skies Agreement will have a positive impact on the number of tourists visiting Israel, especially from Europe with an increase of 250,000 tourists estimated during the first year of its operation.