Lufthansa to operate Munich-Tel-Aviv

The Director General of the Ministry of Transport, Gideon Sitterman pointed out that the agreement was carried out with the idea of implementing a liberalization process in the air cargo department managed by the Minister of Transport and Road Safety, Shaul Mofaz. According to him, the agreement will lead to a significant increase in the level of competition and passenger traffic to and from Israel.

The new agreement allows every country to operate up to 30 scheduled passenger flights per week, compared with 18 up until now. Also there will be the option of operating flights from new destinations in Germany. One of the paragraphs in the new agreement allows the two countries to operate scheduled cargo flights for the first time where in the first stage each party will be able to operate seven cargo flights per week.

The agreement also allows Israeli and German carriers to operate code share flights with a third country. In the near future, Mofaz will decide on an additional Israeli airline to be a second designated carrier to Stuttgart, Cologne, Hamburg, and Hanover. The three El Al routes operating between Israel and Germany today are Tel Aviv-Frankfurt, Tel Aviv-Munich, and Tel Aviv-Berlin.

It was also agreed that Lufthansa revise its scheduled flight routes between Munich and Tel Aviv starting from the next summer season and will soon announce the number of flights it will operate, schedules, and equipment to be operated on the route. According to Opher Kisch, CEO of Lufthansa, the increase in the number of Lufthansa's scheduled flights to and from Israel is an important step towards strengthening commercial, cultural, and tourism ties between Germany and Israel. "In spite of the economic crisis that is becoming more severe around the world and the fear of damage to tourism following security events, Lufthansa believes that the Israeli market will continue to operate and encourage tourist traffic to Israel as it has done continually since it began flying to Israel in 1968", he stated.

The Civil Aviation Authority reckons the agreement will also lead to the operation of a new service of scheduled passenger flights by new German carriers on new and existing routes. During 2008, a horizontal agreement was signed with the European Union where paragraphs were updated in the bilateral agreements between Israel and European Union countries with the aim of increasing the number of airlines from the EU countries that will be able to operate scheduled flights to Israel.

Lufthansa