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Australia and Israel to establish air services agreement

written by australianaviation.com.au | February 24, 2017

From left, Israel Ambassador to Australia Shmuel Ben-Shmuel, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester. (Minister Chester's office)
From left, Israel Ambassador to Australia Shmuel Ben-Shmuel, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester at the signing ceremony in Sydney. (Minister Chester’s office)

Australia and Israel have announced plans to establish an air services agreement to facilitate more travel and trade between the two countries.

Prime Ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Benjamin Netanyahu have signed a memorandum of understanding to “establish the first treaty-level air services framework” between Australia and Israel.

“For the first time, airlines of Israel and Australia can begin services between countries either using their own aircraft or via code share arrangements with other airlines,” Chester said in a statement on February 23.

“During 2016, 12,600 Israeli residents visited Australia, while 22,000 Australians visited Israel. We expect these numbers to grow as the new arrangements are put in place.”

The MoU signing was quickly followed with the announcement Qantas and El Al planned to establish a codeshare agreement for flights between Australia and Israel, via Asia or Africa.

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Under the codeshare, Qantas said it would place its QF airline code on El Al-operated flights from Hong Kong, Bangkok and Johannesburg to Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, El Al planned to add its LY airline code on Qantas services from Hong Kong to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and from Sydney to Bangkok and Johannesburg.

Eligible frequent flyers of both carriers would also receive reciprocal lounge access at Tel Aviv, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hong Kong, Qantas said in a statement.

The proposed codeshare, which was expected to start during the second half of calendar 2017, comes on top of an existing interline agreement between Qantas and El Al.

“It’s a popular destination for the many Australians with family and friends in Israel, including a lot of Qantas frequent flyers who we know will welcome the option to book with us,” Qantas international chief executive Gareth Evans said in a statement.

“The timing’s especially good when you think about the growing number of Australian companies doing business with Israel’s world-class technology and start-up sectors.”

El Al chief executive David Maimon said: “Australia is a growing destination for Israelis, especially from the business and tourism segments and we are here to answer their needs.”

Currently, Korean Air offers a one-stop single-carrier option for Australians heading to Tel Aviv from Brisbane or Sydney via Seoul Incheon.

However, Cathay Pacific, which serves Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney from its Hong Kong hub, was scheduled to begin nonstop between Hong Kong and Tel Aviv on March 26 2017.

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Comments (8)

  • Karen Lasouu

    says:

    Why can’t Qantas start a route from Perth direct to Tel Aviv or El Al it will be well used, or even Sydney>Bangkok>Tel Aviv or
    Sydney>Kuala Lumpur>Tel Aviv
    With QF or LY

  • Baxter

    says:

    @ Karen Lasouu, The SYD-KUL-TEL AVIV Service wont work because Israelis are not allowed to travel to Malaysia

  • Gary

    says:

    Karen,

    May be a slight issue with KL!

  • Anil Kattula

    says:

    El Al would be welcomed by many Australians looking at a safer way to travel to Europe. Melbourne may be a better origin/destination point than Sydney due to it’s larger Jewish population. Interesting that many European and Middle Eastern airlines such as El Al, Turkish, and others are looking at starting or returning to Australia!

  • aussieflyer

    says:

    Melbourne to Tel Aviv with a dreamliner a few days a week would make sense given the large Jewish population there. El Al would struggle with the route though as they have to avoid flying through the airspace of many countries with which it doesn’t have diplomatic ties (Saudi/Indonesia etc).

    Perhaps its something difference QF could think about when they have enough dreamliners.

  • Slava Yachnin

    says:

    Hopefully it is a step towards a direct flight between Australia to Israel .

  • Russ

    says:

    Flying through the Mid East is problematic from an operational point of view. YL flights as far as I know plan via the stans and into China to HKG. Flying over a country is one thing but diverting with an aircraft with Israeli nationals is difficult given its political situation in the Mid East. This will always impact any point to point from Aus as a great circle track can never be flown.

  • Rocket

    says:

    Why not split MEL or SYD to TLV… say Mon, Wed and Sat on QF 787 and Fri, Tue and Thu on LY (to avoid either flying on the Sabbath which is a consideration under Israeli Law.

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