EL-AL From Israel, joined Oct 2001, 1132 posts, RR: 5 Posted (3 years 2 weeks 4 days ago) and read 5594 times:
After 20 years of non stop operation, TLV-AYT line will be closed next will. The last flight will take place next sunday (June 6th).
The line was opened in 1990, and became one of the most popular routes out of Israel. AYT was, during summer and holidays, at the top 5 destinations out of Tel Aviv. Other airports from Israel to holiday destinations in Turkey were Dalaman, Budrum and Izmir, but Antalya was always number 1 airport.
In 2008 550,000 Israelis spent vacation in Turkey (including myself...twice!), but since the deterioration in relations between countries, starting at December 2008, the number of tourists from Israel to Turkey has declined, and after this week events - there are simply no more orders from Israel to Turkey. The coming flight on sunday will bring back the Israelis who are now around Antalya, and the TLV-AYT line will be closed till further notice.
In addition, El Al announced that it's planned code share flights to Istanbul-Ataturk (IST) with Atlas jet will not take place, again - due to low demand.
Therefore, the only flight line between Israel and Turkey is now IST-TLV-IST operated by Turkish Airlines.
"In our country, those who do not believe in miracles are irrational" - David Ben Gurion.
LXA340 From Switzerland, joined Nov 2006, 2107 posts, RR: 4 Reply 1, posted (3 years 2 weeks 4 days ago) and read 5591 times:
it will be interesting to see how the TLV-IST-TLV lin will develop under Turkish Airlines. Considering that most passengers on TK use the flight as feeder to conect to other destinations the demand will remain stabile.
todaReisinger From Switzerland, joined Mar 2001, 2754 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (3 years 2 weeks 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 4898 times:
Quoting LXA340 (Reply 1): Considering that most passengers on TK use the flight as feeder to conect to other destinations the demand will remain stabile.
This - as well as the fate of the other mentioned flights - will greatly depend on the political developments in Turkey. If this country decides to continue its policy of severing ties with Israel, I don't think those flights will be reintroduced in the near future. And with the situation currently prevailing in Turkey, I would certainly not select a Turkish airline or a Turkish airport as a travel option to or from Israel.........
I bitterly miss the livery that should never have been changed (repetition...)
bestwestern From Ireland, joined Sep 2000, 6510 posts, RR: 58 Reply 5, posted (3 years 2 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 4127 times:
Quoting ly7e7 (Reply 3): Not as a political thing but rather a personal safety concern
A personal safety concern driven by a political decision I'm afraid to say. Without getting into the rights and wrongs of the issue or assigning blame, It shows you what can happen when politics are driven by egos or badly thought-out decisons.
TK787 From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 4114 posts, RR: 13 Reply 6, posted (3 years 2 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 3744 times:
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): the only flight line between Israel and Turkey is now IST-TLV-IST operated by Turkish Airlines.
TK still operating flights without change 24 x weekly. Tomorrow, Sunday out of 4 daily flights to TLV, one with 738, one with 320, two with 321s. TK occasionally sends twin aisles down to TLV. Let's see if this remains like this.
On the other hand TK didn't have AYT-TLV flights, they were mostly charters. I have a feeling those flights will come back. Hopefully sooner than later.
Just to give some numbers about tourists in AYT; so far this year in five months 2,371,973 tourists arrived there mostly from Germany, Russia and Holland. Israeli tourists rank at number 11 with 41,749 pax, roughly 1.86% of all tourists arriving.
Looking into the future trends, Russian tourists increase is at 35% probably due to removal of visa requirements between Russia and Turkey and a huge rise in Iranian tourist increase at 153%, now ranked 15th.
originalblis From Israel, joined Jan 2010, 47 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (3 years 2 weeks 7 hours ago) and read 3296 times:
anyone have any idea about the economic cost of this? i know you have all presented passenger numbers, but can anyone approximate the monetary loss? was this a major route for any of the smaller airlines?
LXA340 From Switzerland, joined Nov 2006, 2107 posts, RR: 4 Reply 8, posted (3 years 2 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 3143 times:
given that Turkish Airlines offers a very good service and competitive prices there is no reason that Israelis will not continue to make use of them as a connecting airlline via Istanbul. However if the political situation worsens between the 2 countries it is not at all to recomend to fly them as Israeli citiz
Quoting originalblis (Reply 7): anyone have any idea about the economic cost of this? i know you have all presented passenger numbers, but can anyone approximate the monetary loss? was this a major route for any of the smaller airlines?
I am not aware of detailed costs, however before the first tentions with Israel and turkey began there was even a much greater amount of Israeli tourists traveling to Antalya which means that it will definetly be felt.
bahadir From United States of America, joined Oct 2001, 1727 posts, RR: 11 Reply 9, posted (3 years 1 week 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 2853 times:
Besides Antalya, IST has been a great connecting hub for people traveling to/from Israel. With the newly announced LAX and IAD routes the potentials were there... It is also the case where TK was sending widebodies for cargo volume. Let's see how that changes now.
TK787, the immense increase in the Iranian tourists are good but you left out the part that Iran considers AYT an 'infedel' destination. Most of the flights to AYT from Iran make a 'technical stop' in other parts of the country like Gaziantep or Diyarbakir before heading to AYT.
I just hope that cooler heads will prevail and the traffic will be back up to the original level.
cuban8 From Kiribati, joined Sep 2009, 212 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (3 years 1 week 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 2703 times:
Quoting bahadir (Reply 9): TK787, the immense increase in the Iranian tourists are good but you left out the part that Iran considers AYT an 'infedel' destination. Most of the flights to AYT from Iran make a 'technical stop' in other parts of the country like Gaziantep or Diyarbakir before heading to AYT.
I'm doing quite often these flights via Gaziantep, Diyarbakir or Adana to Iran and there are not that many tourists. Mainly Iranian people living around Antalya going back for Umrah. The interesting part is that some companies are taking some extra fuel and diverts to Antalya, (instead of the technical stop), and often loose their rights to fly to Iran again after that.
Quoting originalblis (Reply 7): anyone have any idea about the economic cost of this? i know you have all presented passenger numbers, but can anyone approximate the monetary loss? was this a major route for any of the smaller airlines?
I have no idea about the economical cost(s) for this, but I guess it will not have such a big impact on Antalya or Turkey this year. Since more or less all charter company's have increased their summer flights to Antalya/Turkey this year, I think the economical cost will not be felt too much for the region.
This may be a problem for the small charter airlines though. Most of them (Sky Airlines, Onur Air, Corendon, Freebird, Turkuaz, Atlas) are flying the TLV-route but I don't know who has the most frequencies this year. I think Sky Airlines is flying a lot to TLV this year, but maybe somebody else have more information.
777way From Pakistan, joined Dec 2005, 5281 posts, RR: 4 Reply 11, posted (3 years 1 week 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 2420 times:
Infidel Bangkok is served by both Iran air and mahan nonstop flights, Mahan were also going to Bali with 747 but I think it got cancelled before launch.
EL-AL From Israel, joined Oct 2001, 1132 posts, RR: 5 Reply 12, posted (3 years 1 week 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 2314 times:
Quoting TK787 (Reply 6): TK still operating flights without change 24 x weekly. Tomorrow, Sunday out of 4 daily flights to TLV, one with 738, one with 320, two with 321s. TK occasionally sends twin aisles down to TLV. Let's see if this remains like this.
That's right. Don't forget that there is large jewish community in Istanbul with relatives in Israel, who keep this line profitable.
Quoting TK787 (Reply 6): Just to give some numbers about tourists in AYT; so far this year in five months 2,371,973 tourists arrived there mostly from Germany, Russia and Holland. Israeli tourists rank at number 11 with 41,749 pax, roughly 1.86% of all tourists arriving.
The number of Israeli tourists to Turkey (excluding passengers connecting at IST) in 2008 was 550,000. In the summer, there were more then 20 flights a day to AYT, some operated by wide bodies like A300. I flew TLV-AYT-TLV and TLV-DLM-TLV on Onur Air A300B4-203 myself in 2008.
At 2009, the number of Israelis heading for Turkey went down by no less then 40%, and in 2010 even more (till the full cancellation of the line). So for early 2010 the tourists number may seem low, but till 2008 the number of Israelis heading to AYT and DLM was way higher.
Quoting TK787 (Reply 6): Russian tourists increase is at 35% probably due to removal of visa requirements between Russia and Turkey
Interesting, Israel also removed visa requirements from Russia (and Ukraine) this year. Maybe new policy at the Russian government?
"In our country, those who do not believe in miracles are irrational" - David Ben Gurion.
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