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El Al chief Haim Romano has approached Giora Rom of the Civil Aviation Authority, requesting that El Al be designated as the leading carrier on regional flights, with the intention of allowing El Al to fly 6 to 12 daily flights on the route Ben Gurion Airport to Eilat/Ovda and Sde Dov to Eilat/Ovda to compete with Israir and Arkia.

El Al has in the past requested permission to fly to Eilat.  They argue that the flights are intended to fly Israelis and foreign tourists to Eilat and also for travelers making connecting flight at Ben Gurion Airport as well as those are combining a visit to the center of the country and with Eilat.

For this purpose El Al will designate two aircraft of type ATR that will alternately fly with the existing Boeing 737s and 757s.  CEO Romano wrote “We believe that the approval of our request will be to the benefit of the Israeli passenger and will increase the supply of flights between the center of the country and Eilat. It will enable our loyal passengers to enjoy the service that we provide on both internal and on international flights.”

According to Romano, this plan will help to encourage tourism to Israel and especially to Eilat.  This will be because of El Al’s ability to offer a combined product to passengers as a result of improved connections between the international flights and the flight to Eilat.

Romano: “The appointment will be in line with the open skies agreement introduced by the Ministry of Transport.”