Israir Airlines and Tourism Ltd. are expected to launch Tel Aviv-Dubai flights next month, Globes reported.

The maiden flight, scheduled for October 2 at 10 a.m., is already on the Ben-Gurion airport flight schedule although Israir has not yet received an official permit from the United Arab Emirates.

The flights, flying over Saudi space, will take three and a half hours.

According to the report, Israel will market four-night vacation packages to the UAE starting at $700.

Israir, and eventually El Al will face formidable competition for the route between Israel and the UAE from the two world-acclaimed Emirati airlines Etihad and Emirates.

“Israeli aviation is going to completely change,” said Israeli aviation expert Yossi Fischer. The UAE is the world’s strongest aviation power. Above and beyond its influence on passengers flights and mainly connection flights to eastern destinations, the change will also be expressed in cargo transport. Ninety million passengers and two million tons of good pass through Dubai airport each year.”

“The UAE understands what a wonderful opportunity they have and they know the Israeli market well through the companies that they own such as Air Serbia and Alitalia including the traveling habits of Israelis going east, mainly on connection flights with Turkish Airlines, and Aeroflot. Those two companies will pay a heavy price because Israeli traffic to East Asia, Australia and Africa will now go through the UAE, which will also have a price advantage.”

“It will also affect smaller players like Royal Jordanian, Ukraine International and Ethiopian Airlines. The agreement for the UAE airlines is coming at an excellent time because they are experiencing a huge fall in passenger traffic because they are based on transit flights.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)