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El Al announced that it has been forced to stop its local flights between Ben Gurion Airport and Eilat from the 1st August.  Vice President of Commercial & Industrial Affairs at El Al, Eli Cohen announced to Minister of Tourism Stas Misezhnikov, to the chairman of the Eilat Hotel Association and to the head of the Eilat municipality on the decision that was taken as a result of the economic recession.

El Al has announced that after 10 years, they will cease the local flight to Eilat, connecting with international flights arriving at Ben Gurion Airport.  The ongoing economic recession and the fall in tourist numbers to Israel, including Eilat, has resulted in economic loss for El Al and as a result the decision of the company to cease operating the flights from 1st August 2009.

According to Eli Cohen, the flight to Eilat was intended to broaden the range of services offered by the company to its customers throughout the world and as a magnet to attract tourists to Israel and to Eilat in particular.   He said “In our estimation, the number of tourists arriving in Eilat during 2008 on El Al’s local flights from Ben Gurion Airport totaled approximately 8,000.

Nevertheless, where economically viable, El Al will continue to operate charter flights from Europe to Eilat and will support marketing activities aimed at strengthening tourism to Israel and to Eilat.  Cohen added “Should the circumstances and the economic conditions change, we will be happy to consider renewing the flights.”