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Virgin Atlantic to increase flights between London and Tel Aviv

Date: May 10, 2021 Nandita Bhardwaj Nandita Bhardwaj
Virgin Atlantic to increase flights between London and Tel Aviv 
British airline, Virgin Atlantic, has reportedly announced plans for increasing the number of flights between Tel Aviv and London. The move comes after the UK government put Israel on its “green” country list. This will pave the way for quarantine-free travel for people leaving from Tel Aviv to London commencing 17th May 2021.



Back in March 2020, as skies closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company had stopped flights between the two countries and rebegan them in September. Presently, the airline flies the route four times every week. It now plans flying daily from 14th June 2021 and is then anticipated to escalate that number to two daily flights over the summer. As stated by the airline, this will be done in alignment with the road map of the Israeli government for opening up to foreign nationals.



According to Shai Weiss, the CEO of Virgin Atlantic, the airline stays dedicated to the market in Israel and will soon provide twice daily flights between Heathrow Airport and Ben Gurion Airport. This will be provided alongside seamless connections to key cities in the United States comprising Los Angeles and New York, via London, added Weiss.



As per Nicholas Bettles, the Country Manager of Israel at Virgin Atlantic, bookings from Israel on flights of Virgin Atlantic surged on 8th May 2021, with the Tel Aviv-Heathrow flight path set to become the third-most booked journey in the network of the airlines. Bettles stated that sixty-eight percent of these bookings are for the May/June period and underscore the level of pent-up demand for London in the industry.



For the record, the British government announced a “first tentative step” towards the resumption of international travel on 7th May 2021. It stated that citizens from the UK will be allowed to visit countries comprising Iceland, Israel, and Portugal in the latter part of May 2021 without the requirement of being quarantined on their return.



Source credit: https://www.timesofisrael.com/virgin-atlantic-to-ramp-up-israel-flights-after-uk-gives-green-nod/

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Nandita Bhardwaj

Nandita holds a management degree with specialization in marketing, and boasts of a short-term experience in the field of recruitment. Following her passion for writing however, she decided to pursue a career in the field of content development. Presently, Nandita pens down news pieces for newsorigins.com, spanning the verticals of business, finance, and technology.