According to the deal, seven European weekly destinations will be added each year
Israel and the European Union signed an "open skies" agreement, after more than three years of negotiations.
The deal was signed by Giora Rom, acting Civil Aviation Authority chief at the Transportation Ministry and the EU's chief negotiator Klaus Gail.
The deal will allow Israeli airlines and their European counterparts to expand their routes and destinations' list bilaterally. Transportation and Road Safety Minister Yisrael Katz said that "After a careful review I was convinced that this deal has great benefits for Israeli airlines. I believe in Israeli airlines managers' abilities to lead their companies to great success even in an open market situation, which is beneficial for the market as a whole."
According to Katz, “Israelis will soon be able to travel to many more destinations for far less money.
The process will be gradual, in order to enable Israeli airlines to adjust. Katz noted that” The Ministry said that traffic to and from Europe accounted for 60% of the arrivals and departures at Ben Gurion International Airport.
The government and the EU Parliament still have to ratify the deal, but it is expected to take effect within a few months.
The deal will be implemented across five years, mostly in order to allow the Israeli airlines to gear for what is sure to be serious new competition. The new agreement will replace existing bilateral agreements between Israel and each EU nation specifying which airlines are allowed to fly to which destinations, as well as the frequency of flights.
Upon implementation of the agreement, an aviation industry exemption from the Antitrust Law will be expanded to eliminate the requirement of Israeli carriers to submit in advance code-sharing agreements with foreign aviation companies participating in the "open skies" deal.
According to the deal, seven new weekly flight options will be added to each European destination every year. Several central European airports, which have heavier traffic, will add only three options a year.Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov lauded the agreement, calling it "an essential move that will jumpstart tourism to Israel by hundreds of thousands of tourists and will bring about a decrease in air fares for the Israeli consumer as well."
