El Al to offer Miami-Tel Aviv service

Israeli airline starts flights in November

Miami International Airport is adding new foreign carriers at a fast clip as it works to diversify its destination offerings and become a more global gateway.

The latest international carrier readying for a touchdown in November is El Al Israel Airlines, airport officials announced Wednesday. El Al’s arrival at MIA will make the South Florida airport its first market in Florida and fifth nationwide with nonstop service to Israel, officials said. Its other U.S. gateways are Boston, New York-JFK, Newark and Los Angeles.

The new service from Miami to Tel Aviv will operate three times a week with Boeing 777-200 aircraft, which carry 279 passengers.

Reservations for the new route are expected to open in mid-May subject to final government approval, the airline said.

“In our efforts to make MIA a truly global gateway, Israel has always been one of our top strategic targets because of its unique and historically significant global location, and because of its deep cultural ties with Miami,” said Miami-Dade Aviation Director Emilio T. González. ”We look forward to offering our passengers another travel option to that region of the world.”

Miami-Dade County officials welcomed news of El Al’s addition and the potential economic benefits it is expected to generate.

“Our community, which includes one of the largest Jewish populations in the U.S., will benefit greatly from our local airport now providing nonstop service to Israel,” said Esteban L. Bovo Jr., chairman of the county’s board of commissioners.

“El Al’s new flights from Israel will bring thousands of international visitors, millions of dollars in economic impact, and more jobs to Miami-Dade County, which is fantastic news for our residents and our local business community,” added Commissioner Rebeca Sosa.

The Israeli airline serves 36 destinations from Israel and connects passengers to hundreds of other destinations globally through partnerships with other carriers.

MIA records show El Al last served the airport from 2006 to 2008.

El Al is known for its strict security measures both in terms of passenger and baggage screenings and has won several industry

awards for safety initiatives. The Tel Aviv airport is often considered the gold standard globally in airport security.

It’s unknown whether MIA had to implement any extra security measures.

When posed that question, Gonzalez said: “Their decision to launch service at MIA was partly based on their satisfaction with our facilities, including our security operations.”

A spokesperson for El Al said she could not discuss security but said it is maintained at the “highest level” at all times.

The Miami-to-Tel Aviv nonstop service is expected to be the only one to launch from South Florida to Israel in the near future, El Al President David Maimon said.

“This decision is part and parcel of the strategy in which we recognize the importance of transatlantic routes and our desire to expand El Al’s presence in North America,” Maimon said.

“This new gateway city in the USA will help ensure that, as the national airline, El Al continues to be the leading airline for travel to Israel, offering the most nonstops.”

Aviation analyst Saj Ahmad of London-based Strategic Aero Research called El Al’s decision to start Miami service a practical play for more market share on air routes between the US and Israel.

“If the airline wants to become more than just a bitpart player and not have U.S. airlines gobbling up traffic to and from Israel, El Al had to do something proactive and be counted,” Ahmad said.

For MIA, El Al’s arrival will lessen its dependency on U.S. carriers and open up a connection point in the Middle East that perhaps otherwise wouldn’t have existed, he added.

El Al is the sixth international passenger airline that’s slated to launch service to the Miami airport this year.

In April, Icelandic lowcost carrier WOW air launched service between Miami and Reykjavík, Iceland, which operates three times a week.

In February, Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris began four weekly flights to Guadalajara and daily service to Mexico City. That same month, Canada’s First Air began charter passenger flights the same month from Ontario.

Others set to debut later this year include Aer Lingus with three weekly flights between Miami and Dublin, Ireland starting Sept. 1; and Scandinavian Airlines SAS will begin its expanded schedule to Stockholm, Sweden from Miami on Oct. 29.

Separately Wednesday, JetBlue Airways announced plans for new daily nonstop service between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Salt Lake City International Airport starting Nov. 16.

Salt Lake City will be JetBlue’s 56th nonstop destination from Fort Lauderdale, the carrier said. Reservations are open for the new route at JetBlue.com.

From Palm Beach International Airport, JetBlue said it plans to add one additional nonstop daily flight to Boston starting Oct. 29.