El Al announced that according to an agreement with Economy Minister Nir Barkat, the company will sell plane tickets at a uniform and attractive price to four destinations - to Larnaca for $199, to Athens for $299, and to Vienna and Dubai for $349 - from which onward flights can be taken.
The step, which on the face of it is welcome, comes against the background of consumer complaints about price increases by the company during such a difficult time, when many airlines have abandoned the skies of Israel. With all due respect to the statements of the Minister of Economy and El Al, it seems that the company deliberately chose competitive destinations, where even these days there is competition for them from foreign and local airlines.
It is important to note that none of the lines chosen is a monopoly line to which the company flies. In the test we conducted, the other companies are cheaper on these lines than El Al even these days.
The news came after the Minister of Economy, Nir Barkat, held a discussion with the heads of the Israeli airlines yesterday. The discussion was decided following complaints from consumers and an inspection by the Competition Authority, according to which El Al took advantage of the cancellation or suspension of the operations of foreign airlines and raised the flight prices for almost all the routes it alone controls.
El Al came to the discussion with the Minister of Economy with a trick that could have confused us as well, but when you dive into the depths of things, you understand the smoke screen that the company tried to lift in those goals. El Al announced Athens, Larnaca, Vienna and Dubai as four destinations where it promises to establish a uniform price by the end of the year, adding that those destinations will serve as the fathers for its customers.
Uri Sirkis, CEO of Israir who was present at the meeting, pointed out that El Al did not give a discount even on one line where it is a monopoly. This comment really did not impress the Minister of Economy, who for his part issued a title of price reduction and it doesn't matter what the fine print says.
Let's put things in order for the minister and for you, the readers:
Israeli and other airlines also fly to all four of these destinations.
El Al has set a price of $299 for Athens until the end of the year. In the test we conducted, we found tickets on Bisherair for about 120 dollars to Athens in exactly those months. Basically the same destination, the same dates, a round trip flight for less than 150 dollars and so does Aegian. Blue Bird is also cheaper, the price of a flight to Athens is 223 dollars.
Larnaca is another destination that is currently operated as the parent, announced by El Al at a fixed price of $199 until the end of the year. In Agyan we found flight tickets to the destination for 113 dollars. At Arkia we found flights around the 150 dollar round trip.
Vienna, the capital of Austria, is offered at a fixed price on Yad El Al for $349, in the Skyscanner search engine you will find a November flight also to El Al for $334. In Wizz Air we found flights around the 199 dollars. Blue Bird has round-trip flights to Vienna for $289. And Arkia, which started flying there recently, is also expected to leave at affordable prices to the destination.
In a moment the summer will end and we will return to Dubai. El Al also set prices there. A flight to the destination for $349, what about the other companies? Dubai has Fly Dubai flights. The Emirati company comes to Israel 7 days a week with about 6-7 flights a day. Israir also flies there. El Al, right as of this moment Tesa operates one flight a day.
El Al has not discounted even one of its monopoly destinations:
Not Paris, London, Berlin, Rome, and of course not Bangkok and North America. In recent months United, Delta and American Airlines have stopped flying there and since then El Al is actually the only one flying at prices over $1,000 one way. However, according to El Al, the reason for the high ticket price is a small supply of available seats. To deal with the increase in ticket prices, she limited the price to no more than $2,000 for a round-trip flight.
The CEO of El Al, Dina Ben Tal Gnansia, recalled that "we continue to work to increase the supply of seats as much as possible and expand the flight schedule. The move will allow us to offer tens of thousands of seats at affordable prices that are known in advance, and to provide an extensive response in destinations that are connecting points to the various continents."