Gulf Air to launch operations to Tel Aviv on January 7

Agencies | Tel Aviv

The Daily Tribune-www.newsofbahrain.com

Gulf Air, Bahrain’s national carrier, and EL AL Airlines, Israel's national airline, are set to embark on a historic collaboration following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during an official visit from Bahrain to Israel.

The MoU was signed in Tel Aviv by the Chairman of Gulf Air’s Board of Directors Zayed R. Alzayani and the Chairman of EL AL Airlines’ Board of Directors David Brodet.

Alzayani also announced at the ceremony the launch of Gulf Air’s direct flights to Tel Aviv starting January 7, 2021 - subject to government approvals - with two weekly flights.

The MOU signing and announcement of the airline’s newest destination launch follows the recent announcement of peace between Bahrain and Israel and the political, commercial and civil aviation agreements signed recently between the two countries.

“We are delighted to announce the launch of our Bahrain – Tel Aviv route as part of the historic initiation of Bahraini – Israeli relations,” Alzayani said.

“As the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain; we take great pride in supporting our leadership and Kingdom in their role of preserving peace and prosperity in the region. We hope this is merely the beginning of developing further aviation opportunities and look forward to working with our friends and colleagues at EL AL and supporting each other to achieve bigger goals. We trust this new route will promote traffic providing commercial and social gains for both countries, while paving the path for numerous connections to the rest of our networks via the two destinations”.

Brodet said the opportunity to explore a potential cooperation with Gulf Air is a direct result of the changes taking place in the region.

“We at EL AL look forward to seeing how we can offer our passengers new and exciting options - it goes well beyond just the flights but with expanding in the areas of cargo, maintenance and travel technology with EL AL's Cockpit innovation hub. I welcome H.E. Mr Alzayani to Israel and look forward to visiting Bahrain in the future."

The comprehensive MOU sets the foundation to discuss potential joint codeshare operations between Manama and Tel Aviv, as well as on the global flight networks beyond the two carriers’ hubs, and contains plans for greater commercial cooperation in the fields of loyalty, cargo, engineering, travel technology and any area that can benefit both airlines and their customers.

Last month the airline operated the first-ever and historic flight between Bahrain and Israel that carried the Kingdom’s delegation headed by Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani which inaugurated the new flight code GF972 and the return flight of GF973, representing the international dialling codes of both countries.