Direct flights TLV to LIS?
Apr 30, 2016, 4:20 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 71
Direct flights TLV to LIS?
Had to fly last week for business trip from TLV to LIS. Was the Pesach week and had the option of flying direct with EL AL charter (advertised as El Al, not Sun D'Or), or indirect with TK but with bad connection times, and almost no difference in cost.
Flight with LY was a disaster - flight to LIS was first canceled whilst in the check in queue, then rescheduled for 2 hours later with Israir, but no option to check-in so all pax had to stand for 2.5 hours in queue. The eventual flight departed 3.5 hours late, operated by Polish airline Enter, awful old plane, amateur crew, but we arrived to LIS
On return, flight was operated by Privilege Style on a 757 - Spanish crew were actually great, but again, substandard aircraft very uncomfortable.
I now discovered after checking the IAA website, that this summer season there are 6 or 7 charters a week from TLV to LIS which raises the question of why LY don't make this a regular route? Or why TAP, Easyjet, or someone else don't take advantage of the obvious demand on this route and offer 3x weekly flights? Seems like anyone with a reliable and quality product would take advantage of the apparently already big demand for Israelis visiting Portugal, plus the potential for tourism from Portugal to Israel, and of course, I guess a limited, but present business demand between the two countries. I also assume there is good potential for connections through LIS to Brazil.
Anyone has any ideas about this?
Flight with LY was a disaster - flight to LIS was first canceled whilst in the check in queue, then rescheduled for 2 hours later with Israir, but no option to check-in so all pax had to stand for 2.5 hours in queue. The eventual flight departed 3.5 hours late, operated by Polish airline Enter, awful old plane, amateur crew, but we arrived to LIS
On return, flight was operated by Privilege Style on a 757 - Spanish crew were actually great, but again, substandard aircraft very uncomfortable.
I now discovered after checking the IAA website, that this summer season there are 6 or 7 charters a week from TLV to LIS which raises the question of why LY don't make this a regular route? Or why TAP, Easyjet, or someone else don't take advantage of the obvious demand on this route and offer 3x weekly flights? Seems like anyone with a reliable and quality product would take advantage of the apparently already big demand for Israelis visiting Portugal, plus the potential for tourism from Portugal to Israel, and of course, I guess a limited, but present business demand between the two countries. I also assume there is good potential for connections through LIS to Brazil.
Anyone has any ideas about this?
Apr 30, 2016, 5:55 pm
#2
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA Gold. UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt (Lifetime Diamond downgraded to Explorist)
Posts: 6,776
More profitable routes during the summer (peak) time. Traditional airlines look to maximize their schedules & fleet usage. If one of the, mostly likely E2, were to fly the route MWF the jet would be taken from another route on those days. Some could argue that operating 2 routes part time may be better but I'll trust the airline managers to make that decision.