There is now strong support throughout Israel for the Tourism Ministry to join forces with Edward Winter, easyJet's former chief operating officer, to launch a new airline that will operate low-cost flights to and from Israel.
Winter, a trained pilot and former chief operating officer of British Airways, met recently with Israel’s Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov and aviation officials to discuss the initiative. It is envisioned that Jet Israel will operate only low-cost flights to and from the Jewish state. Winter’s aim is to initiate an aviation revolution in Israel, like easyJet did in Europe.
Winter has requested Israel to provide a safety net for the airline. Under the terms of the proposed deal, the airline will be compensated financially if the airline’s occupancy is between 70% and 90%; anything over that he will not receive anything. The cost of the proposed deal is being estimated at NIS 100 million ($28 million).
Although easyJet flies to Israel from London, Geneva and Basel, it does not offer cheap tickets.
Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov said: "easyJet is not a low-cost company. Instead of pulling the prices of all the other airlines down, it pushed them up. "We need a real low-cost company with truly cheap prices. We are formulizing ideas to operate low-cost companies that fly directly to Israel and are examining the subject with Israeli and foreign airline companies," he said.
Watch this space.........