ISRAELI FLAG CARRIER El Al is replacing its one-way summer flights from London Stansted to Newark, New Jersey, introduced for technical reasons, with three scheduled return flights a week, to be flown with a Boeing 757.
An additional weekend service will be operated between Stansted and Tel Aviv. The move re-establishes a transatlantic connection from the airport, lost when American Airlines withdrew its Chicago service in 1994.
The decision to offer a full service from 28 October is the result of the unexpected success of the limited summer operation, which El Al attributes largely to its competitive fares. El Al will be operating the new service under its fifth-freedom rights, which provides for four frequencies to New York from the UK.
Although the move to Stansted was precipitated by the availability of only two additional slots at Heathrow, El Al is convinced that a big-enough market exists to make the new service a success.
Source: Flight International
