El Al, the former national airline of Israel, has underlined its support for the business travel sector this winter season with the launch of a new Monday morning flight using its refurbished 767 fleet from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv.
The new flight will operate from 29 October, 2007 and end 24 March, 2008, complementing the existing twice-daily service.
This is the first El Al London to Tel Aviv morning service since 1997 and arrives into Tel Aviv early on Monday afternoon.
Tel Aviv International Airport, Ben Gurion, is now one of the most modern complexes in the world. Terminal 3, the international terminal, was opened in November 2004 and has its own railway station with connections to most of Israel.
El Al uses a mixture of Boeing 747, Boeing 777 and Boeing 767 on the route depending on the time and day. The new flight will be flown entirely with 767s, all these aircraft in the fleet having been subject to a major refurbishment costing ”3.5m ($7m) this year, including the fitting of new ”cradle” seats with 165 degrees of incline.
Seat pitch has gone up from 48” to 55” (122cm to 140cm), while cabin interiors have been renovated. Each seat now has a 110v power point for passengers with laptops and new Iridium satellite phones.
El Al CEO, UK, Ireland and Northern Europe, Uri Danor, says of the expanded schedule: ”This is the first morning flight that El Al has operated in ten years and is the result of increased demand and feedback from our customers.”
Flights departs Heathrow at 08:05 and arrive in Tel Aviv at 14:50 (all times local).