Flights for West Bank Palestinians to Turkey to start at end of August (updated)

Enter Air SA

09/08/2022 14:30

(Adds details)
    JERUSALEM, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Palestinians from the West Bank
will be able to fly on special flights from Ramon Airport, near
the Red Sea resort city of Eilat, to destinations in Turkey,
Israel's Airports Authority said on Tuesday.
    The move is the latest step in Israel offering economic
easements to Palestinians in the absence of Israeli-Palestinian
peace talks and follows pressure from the United States. U.S.
President Joe Biden visited Israel last month.
    Without an airport of their own West Bank Palestinians, who
cannot fly from Israel's Ben Gurion Airport without special
permission, typically travel to Jordan to catch international
flights. These flights will not be offered to Palestinians from
Gaza.
    Under the pilot programme the flights will run twice a week
starting at the end of August to Istanbul and Antalya on Turkish
carriers Atlas and Pegasus and using Airbus A321 aircraft, the
airport authority said.
    Ramon Airport, which opened in 2019, is about 300 km (185
miles) from Jerusalem and designed to take any planes re-routed
from Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv.
    Foreign carriers such as Ryanair, Wizzair and Lufthansa
began to fly non-stop to older Eilat airports in 2015 during
winter months after Israel offered airlines 60 euros ($61) per
passenger brought on direct flights from abroad.
    But the COVID-19 pandemic largely halted those flights.
    The Airports Authority said that for the first time, summer
flights to various destinations in Europe from Eilat would start
in the coming days. They include Batumi, Georgia and Larnaca,
Cyprus on Israeli carrier Arkia, and Warsaw and Katowice on
Poland's Enter Air.
    Pegasus in October will fly Israelis to Turkey with four
flights a week, the authority said.
 ($1 = 0.9770 euros)

 (Reporting by Steven Scheer; Additional reporting by Henriette
Chacar; Editing by Alison Williams and Alex Richardson)
 ((steven.scheer@thomsonreuters.com; +972 2 632 2210; Reuters
Messaging: steven.scheer.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net;
Twitter: @StevenMScheer))