Originally Posted by
M60_to_LGA
Will there actually be enough demand to justify that level of service? Five airlines serving the route is more than serve TLV-NYC! I have a feeling we'll see something of a shakeout next year, with El Al the most likely victim. The UAE carriers can capture a decent amount of connection traffic, Israir/Arkia presumably can offer lower costs and vacation packages, but El Al has a higher cost structure and no real connection network. I guess much will depend on whether El Al can get a decent codeshare deal to piggyback on the Emiratis' networks.
Well, FZ is just a precursor to EK metal serving TLV.
I think LY will do just fine, they have the corporate contracts and if they get their act together can start to offer unique package deals from Europe to Dubai with a few days stop-over in Israel. They can even offer the same from North America, what would stop them from offering the same from North America? NOTHING.
I think Arkia will be the likely loser here, unfortunately, with E190's it's unlikely that they will be able to compete with the larger aircraft (thus lower p/seat cost).