VS Launching Tel Aviv - now confirmed.

The 16:00 slot will be the permanent one continuing into summer 2020

Schedule will be as follows:

First month of operation
LHR 13:30- TLV 20:35
TLV 07:15- LHR 11:10

End of October
LHR 16:00- TLV 23:00
TLV 06:00- LHR 10:00

Is this a two night trip for the crews? Guess it must be with those flight times...

If it comes to pass, it's an interesting and very atypical route for VS to serve.

I assume the principle purpose is to plug Israel into the DL network rather than London p2p traffic.

Reading the press release by VS, it looks like they're targeting the cargo market as that's mentioned before O&D and connecting passenger traffic, so if they're squeezed on the passenger front (which from London is competitive alone with 4 airlines operating from 4 different London airports) that could be what makes the difference between the route being profitable or not.

It's also nice to see VS diversify into non-US markets once again. I assume the fleet situation with the 787 engines is improving to a point where they can grow once again.

Slightly off-topic...

I notice this route will be using the A330-300

Does anyone have any idea when the A330-300's will be returning to the Caribbean routes? ANU in particular...we are not hugely looking forward to flying on the ex-air berlin A330-200 this May/June, I know they have been refurbed now, but still see it as a big step down from what we've had previously.

Not that there is an alternative! BA pointy-end isn't worth the krugerand in our opinion...

2 night layover with associated hotel costs and allowances versus someone like EZY who do it there and back... good luck with that.

This is a good example of DL saying we don't win pax flying US-LHR-DXB but we think we can win customers flying US-LHR-TLV imho.

This forum makes me laugh sometimes, VS drop an eastbound route? Blame Delta. VS add an eastbound route? It's all Delta's fault. Good grief.

Emirates have sown up DXB, with BA picking up the die-hard Brits who “won’t fly with a foreign airline”. It was a good route for Virgin Holidays but obviously not good enough to keep it going.

TLV does seem to be on the ascendancy as a premium year-round leisure destination, and has a larger US market than DXB.

But it’s still a gamble, and those timings mean it’s anything but efficient in terms of aircraft and crew utilisation.

I am reticent to comment too much on this as personally speaking I think it is a moronic decision from VS.

From reading through the press release, I believe that VS think it will be a heavy cargo route for them. I honestly have no idea about that side of their operation, but I would think it to be a mistake for a principally pax carrier to base their main route choices on how much cargo you can fly back and forth.

Delta had nothing to do with this decision; they have direct flights anyway so the benefit of connecting pax will be very minimal and their profit sharing deal with VS does not cover the non-US routes.

I can think of nearly a dozen other destinations off the top of my head that make far more sense from a commercial point of view, with the added benefit of being destinations that could provide good connections for DL pax coming from the US.

I am fairly certain this is a push from Shai Weiss, and I will not speculate as to his motivations behind this call.

Disappointing them choosing TLV in my view, but I have been promised other new routes in due course... Let's see what happens

This forum makes me laugh sometimes, VS drop an eastbound route? Blame Delta. VS add an eastbound route? It's all Delta's fault. Good grief.

Well said

EasyJet just launched a sale, departing from Ams, Bru and Berlin to Tel Aviv - May to September, €118 round trip...

Bring back Tokyo, Rugby world cup, the 2020 olympics and a government committed to expand the 31 million people that visited last year. Please let it be so

Bring back Tokyo, Rugby world cup, the 2020 olympics and a government committed to expand the 31 million people that visited last year. Please let it be so

They were also supposed to start Rio for Olympics and World Cup - never happened.

One off events aren't the driver for delivering long term flights.

Went on sale today.

£1,200 or so in UC across many dates. Y and PE at 300-ish and 650-ish respectively after October.

HFP also posted the redemption chart as well for the curious.

Good £/TP rate for those seeking them!

“2 rockets fired from Gaza to Tel Aviv in first such incident in years; one was intercepted, the other fell in an open area. No injuries”

My understanding of that area is poor at best but thought it might be of interest for those planning trips.