Philippine Airlines will take off its first flight in April in Tel Aviv, Israel after more than 60 years of absence. In 2019, the market between the Philippines and Israel is huge, with 72,800,000 passengers to be exact. It will be a much more relaxed-driven route with a target market of mostly overseas Filipinos, pilgrims, and tourism in both ways. This leading airline is coming back even during reorganization to profitability.
IN TEL AVIV AFTER MORE THAN 60 YEARS
Philippine Airlines’ last presence in Tel Aviv was way back in the 1940s to the 50s, and after years of absence finally, it’s back in service. Its first flight will start to operate on April 6, twice a week which is bookable until the end of October. Here is the schedule of flights, including all times local. As per the return of the aircraft, it will return on day 3.
● Manila-Tel Aviv: Wednesdays and Sundays, PR686, 22:10-04:15+1 the next day
● Tel Aviv-Manila: Mondays and Tuesdays, PR687, 21:25-14:15+1 the next day
The aircraft that will be used is a 295-seat A350-900s. According to ch-aviation.com, Philippine Airlines has three of them which were delivered in June and September of 2018, and May 2019. The three aircraft have the same configuration, having 30 business fully flat seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 241 economy seats.
Recently, Tel Aviv has welcomed new routes to countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco. And another endless route from the Philippines soon after the recent inauguration of Turkish Airlines to Cebu.
WHY FLIGHTS STARTS FROM MANILA TO TEL AVIV
In 2019, the data shows that there were about 72,000 round-trip passengers who traveled between the Philippines and Israel, with 90% of the passengers coming from Manila. The average one-way fare ticket was about $502 which is two times bigger than flights from Manila to Dubai.
The biggest share of passengers traveled to countries on the way to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Istanbul, and Amman. Since there are a lot of flights to Dubai, things will be a lot different from now on.
As mentioned, the target will mostly be Filipino workers, pilgrims, and tourism in both ways. There were more or less 23,000 Israelis who visited the Philippines and at the same time it has been well-known that Israel is a visa-free country for the Filipinos. Israel is considered to be a country with one of the largest number of immigrant groups as there are at least 30,000 Filipinos who live in the said country.
PHILIPPINE AIRLINES ACROSS MIDDLE EAST
As can be seen below, Philippine Airlines serves five destinations all over the Middle east. Additionally, there will be 26 departures in total which leads to the region is less than half of the operation of North America. The two regions are said to be similar to each other as Philippine Airlines targets overseas Filipinos.
- Manila-Dubai: once-daily, A330-300
- Manila-Riyadh: once-daily, A330-300
- Manila-Doha: five days-weekly, A330-300
- Manila-Dammam: five days-weekly, A330-300
- Manila-Tel Aviv: twice-weekly, A350-900
