Direct flights from Denmark to resume after intifada halt

Article published by GLOBES Israel's Business Arena

October 24, 2010

By Globe's Correspondent

Cimber Air's direct flight will cuts the time of the trip in half.

Danish airline Cimber Air will operate three direct scheduled and charter flights a week from Copenhagen to Tel Aviv beginning November 1.

A Cimber Sterling Airlines Boeing 737-700

There has been a significant increase in the numbers of tourists visiting Israel from Scandinavia during 2010. This, together with the anticipated continued increase with the commencement of the new and reinstated flights is expected to return the Scandinavian countries to the incoming tourism map of Israel and generate a 25% increase in incoming tourism from these countries. In January-September 2010, 47,400 tourists arrived from Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark (16% more than the same period last year and 19% more than 2008.)

The direct flight cuts the time of the trip in half, as what was a nine-hour journey, including a changeover in Vienna or another European capital, is now about 4.5 hours.

Daily El AL and SAS flights between Israel and the Scandinavian countries ceased operating ten years ago with the onset of the intifada, after a significant drop in demand.

Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov said, “The Tourism Ministry will continue its marketing efforts in 2011 to bring back the tourism traffic from Scandinavia to Israel, as main source countries for incoming tourism."