Back in December, I tweeted about an interesting Virgin Atlantic rumour doing the rounds.
Rumour: @VirginAtlantic to launch flights to Tel Aviv in 2019 🛫 Would certainly provide some interesting biz class competition on that particular route…
— Tricks of the Trade (@xexecTOTT) December 26, 2018
Virgin Atlantic has now confirmed that they will be launching daily flights to Tel Aviv from 25th September 2019.
The route will be operated by an Airbus A330-300 offering full Virgin Upper Class, Premium and Economy Light, Classic and Delight service.
Flight times
The service will initially operate at the following times…
LHR 13:30 – TLV 20:35
TLV 07:15 – LHR 11:10
…before moving to the following slots in October 2019:
LHR 16:00 – TLV 23:00
TLV 06:00 – LHR 10:00
Reports also suggest that Virgin Atlantic also hopes to conduct a special festive launch of the route in May by flying over 258 British fans on an Airbus 330 to and from Israel to see the Eurovision Song Contest final in Tel Aviv.
There will presumably be excellent Virgin miles reward availability, at least to begin with, so that’s one to keep an eye on if you were planning an Israel trip at some point. It will certainly be interesting to see how many miles these flights will require.
For comparison, this is what BA currently charges each way on this route:
(Off-peak/peak)
- Economy – 10,000/12,500 Avios
- Premium Economy – 20,000/25,000
- Business – 31,250/37,500
- First – 42,500/50,000
Verdict
It is pleasing to see more competition on the popular London-Tel Aviv route and particularly another ‘proper’ business class option. Between ELAL’s new 787-9 business class, BA Club World and now Virgin Upper Class, things are certainly looking up for premium passengers on this route.
Flights go on sale on 25th February 2019.