UK
El Al to offer a record 20 weekly flights to the UK this winter
The Israeli national carrier will step up its services to Heathrow and Luton from October
August 11, 2025 09:18
The Israeli national carrier will step up its services to Heathrow and Luton from October
August 11, 2025 09:18Israel’s national airline El Al announced Sunday that it will operate 20 weekly flights to Britain next winter to meet heightened demand, its most ever on the route.
The carrier will offer 15 flights a week to London’s Heathrow Airport – Europe’s busiest – as well as five weekly flights to London Luton Airport, starting in late October.
The move comes as direct flights between the two countries this summer remain oversold, sending airfares soaring.
The Tel Aviv-London route is currently serviced only by Israeli airlines El Al, Israir and Arkia.
El Al has posted record-profits over the past two years of war, when it often operated as a virtual monopoly.
Both British Airways and the London-based budget carrier Easyjet have suspended service to Tel Aviv until the end of October, while Virgin Atlantic has stopped flying to Israel entirely.
The announcement of the schedule expansion comes after Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air confirmed it would be restarting its service to Tel Aviv in the coming weeks.
The Budapest-based firm is gradually restarting flights to Ben-Gurion Airport on 10 routes from eight countries including the UK, with the resumption of full service to and from Israel on 24 routes across 11 countries expected next month.
"That Wizz Air has chosen to put their faith in Israel and resumes operations in contrast to other foreign carriers who have chosen for a myriad of reasons not to return should be applauded,” Mark Feldman CEO of Jerusalem's Ziontours, told JNS.
"It is another example of a foreign airline who has made a conscious business decision to fly to and from Tel Aviv.”
Wizz Air is also in talks with Israel over the opening of a hub at Ben-Gurion.
In a sign of the resurgence of the Israeli aviation market, 80,000 passengers passed through the airport last Thursday, the most for a single day since the October 7 attacks and subsequent start of the Gaza War.
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