Australians have a new one-stop, single-carrier option to Israel following the start of Cathay Pacific’s services to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport.
The inaugural four times weekly flight took off from Hong Kong on Sunday, with CX675 operated by Airbus A350-900 B-LRG.
The flights have been scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday and operate as an overnight service from Hong Kong. The reciprocal CX676 takes off from Tel Aviv at 1350 for an early morning arrival in Hong Kong the next day.
The service will run five times a week between September and November in response to customer bookings.
“We have been highly encouraged by the overwhelming reception that our new Tel Aviv service has received,” Cathay Pacific director for corporate development and IT Paul Loo said in a statement.
“Increasing the frequency of our operations to five times a week will provide greater convenience to business and leisure customers travelling between these two great cities and give passengers from Israel easier access to destinations in Southwest Pacific and across Asia through our hub in Hong Kong.”
Cathay is the second operator on the Hong Kong-Tel Aviv route alongside Israel flag carrier El Al.
The oneworld alliance member serves Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney from Hong Kong, giving Australian travellers from those six cities a one-stop, single carrier option to Israel.
Another one-stop, single-carrier itinerary from Australia included Korean Air from Brisbane and Sydney.
And Air India, which serves Melbourne and Sydney from its Delhi hub, was due to begin Delhi-Tel Aviv services from mid-May.
There are also a number of one-stop, multiple carrier options in the market, including a codeshare partnership between Qantas and El Al that was signed in February after Australia and Israel established a bilateral air services agreement.
