Travelore News: SAS To Launch Tel Aviv - Copenhagen Flights

The Scandinavian airline will operate three weekly flights to the Danish capital from October 26.

SAS credit: Shutterstock

SAS is launching Tel Aviv - Copenhagen flights from October 26. The Scandinavian airline, which is returning to Israel after a nine year absence, will operate three weekly flights using the Airbus A320neo. Round-trip tickets will start at $300.

In recent years there have been no direct flights between Israel and Denmark with passengers needing to find connection flights. SAS is launching the new route in winter, when demand is lower and tourism companies say that demand for Denmark among Israeli tourists has fallen in recent years.

SAS representative in Israel and Scandinavian expert Yaki Cohen said, "SAS was a pioneering company in Israel and in the past they flew to destinations in the East. In 2001, the company stopped flying to Israel following the twin towers disaster, and returned between 2012 and 2016. The company planned to return again in the winter of 2023, but then the war broke out. At its peak, there was a daily flight to Copenhagen."

Ofakim Tours CEO Revital Ben Natan added, "In recent years we have seen a large decline in the number of passengers to countries like Denmark, Sweden and Norway. A decline that began even before the war, when it was very challenging to reach Scandinavia, on a route that usually included a connection and sometimes two intermediate stops, but has continued in the last two years."

A plunge in demand

According to Israel Airports Authority figures only 1,261 passengers flew from Israel to Denmark in July and Google Trends reports very few Israelis have searched for information about flights to Scandinavia over the past two years. Since the start of the war the trend has been for Israelis to vacation abroad closer to home in countries where there are less pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Eshet Tours VP marketing Shirley Cohen Orkaby said, "The fact that the company is returning to Israel at this time indicates a major vote of confidence by a foreign airline. Denmark is a destination not characterized by large numbers of Israelis, but there is demand, for example in the organized tours sector for all Scandinavian countries."
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Travelore News: KLM To Resume Israel Flights

The Dutch airline will operate seven weekly flights on a Boeing 737-900 between Tel Aviv and Amsterdam starting September 28.

KLM credit: Shutterstock

Dutch carrier KLM has announced that it will resume flights to Israel at the end of next month. The airline will operate seven weekly flights on a Boeing 737-900 between Tel Aviv and Amsterdam starting September 28. KLM had renewed flights to Israel at the start of last June but halted them two weeks later following the start of Israel's operation against Iran and the closure of the country's airspace, after which KLM had said it would not resume flights until further notice. The resumption of flights will increase the supply of ticket to one of the highest-demand destinations in Europe.

KLM says flights departing from Amsterdam to Ben Gurion Airport will make a short operational stop in Larnaca, Cyprus. Such a stop has become a practice among foreign airlines returning to Israel and appeasing flight crews who won't stay overnight in Israel. British Airways has adopted the same practice in the past. This solution allows companies to operate routes to Israel without the incoming crews being forced to spend the night in Israel, a sensitive issue both from a security perspective and with insurance companies, some of which refuse to insure accommodation in Israel.

Although this move that extends travel time by an hour (due to the time the plane is on the ground and the extension of the flight route) and is burdensome for passengers, it allows companies to maintain continuity of activity and prevent the loss of valuable slots at Ben Gurion airport. However, this is a complex and expensive operation with potential delays in a small airport like Larnaca and additional costs.

Demand to fly between Tel Aviv and Amsterdam remains high in relation to the supply of flights, despite violent attacks on Israelis last year. This is one of the favorite destinations of the Israeli public, both for a short vacation and as a stopover for connection flights in Europe and the world. Currently only Israeli airlines operate direct flights to the city, due to the absence of KLM and easyJet, and the result is high fares and almost full occupancy of flights.

The return of KLM to Israel will also allow connectivity to additional destinations in Europe and the US, because Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam is one of the 5 main hubs in Europe alongside London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Zurich.

KLM flights when they resume will take off from Schiphol Airport at 20.45 each day and land in Israel at 3.30 after stopping in Larnaca. In the other direction planes will leave Israel at 4.45 and land in Amsterdam at 8.40 in the morning.

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