Then and now: 6 ways in which El Al’s most historic route has improved in simply 2 years

Three years in the past, it was a uncommon sight to see an Israeli-flagged airplane parked proper subsequent to a sea of Emirates’ Airbus A380s.

However, in August 2020, Israel and the UAE despatched shockwaves all through the Middle East and past once they introduced they’d be normalizing ties as a part of a U.S.-brokered pact. One of the important thing tenets of the deal was establishing business flights between the 2 beforehand unconnected international locations.

Four months later the day had come — and I used to be there to witness all of it firsthand from El Al flight 977, the first business flight to the UAE for Israel’s nationwide airline.

And practically two years since then, there at the moment are as much as 30 day by day flights working between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

El Al, together with the 2 United Arab Emirates flag carriers, Etihad and Emirates, fly between the 2 international locations, and there are even a plethora of ultra-low-cost carriers competing on the roughly 1,320-mile route from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

I used to be lately in Tel Aviv for trip and wanted to get to the UAE for a piece occasion. When I used to be determining find out how to get there, I selected to fly with El Al, since it could give me a head-to-head comparability with my expertise on the identical historic route practically two years earlier.

Here’s how issues have modified.

The lounge is again

As Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) in Tel Aviv returns to pre-pandemic site visitors ranges, El Al has reopened its flagship King David Lounge within the departures corridor.

This two-story house is El Al’s solely lounge in Tel Aviv, and it options a wide range of seating choices, in addition to a reasonably intensive buffet. In addition to a variety of tasty Middle Eastern salads and dips, you possibly can take pleasure in freshly baked pizzas, soups and dessert truffles.

There’s even a walk-up wine bar that options some native labels, equivalent to Teperberg.

Before the pandemic, El AL partnered with the Brown Hotels group to open a pay-per-treatment spa within the King David Lounge. Unfortunately, this house continues to be shuttered. However, the remainder of the lounge is again in enterprise.

It’s price noting that the house can get fairly crowded throughout peak departure banks. I’d advocate heading upstairs for a seat if you cannot discover one once you enter the decrease stage.

That stated, the King David Lounge is the airport’s nicest possibility for premium-cabin passengers, so it is nice to see it open as soon as once more.

Better plane

When El Al launched business flights to Dubai, it flew the inaugural utilizing its short-haul workhorse, the Boeing 737-900 plane.

This airplane featured 16 business-class recliners and 159 economic system seats. While the airline continues to function some Dubai frequencies utilizing the 737, it is flying its flagship plane, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, to the UAE as effectively.

The Dreamliner gives a substantially higher onboard expertise. The business-class pods flip into lie-flat beds, and there is even a reasonably priced premium economic system cabin for these on the lookout for a domestic-first-class-style expertise with out breaking the financial institution.

Even the economic system seats are upgraded with new cushioning and contoured headrests.

I booked a business-class ticket on my latest flight to Dubai, and I used to be overwhelmingly impressed with the Recaro CL6710 product. I used to be assigned a window-adjacent solo pod, which featured loads of privateness and storage.

Given the flight’s 5:30 a.m. departure time, I had no hassle catching up on some sleep after changing the seat right into a mattress.

The Dreamliner’s onboard expertise was a night-and-day distinction relative to the El Al inaugural I took two years earlier. If you are planning to fly the route, I’d extremely advocate choosing a frequency operated by an El Al 787.

However, it isn’t simply El Al that is deploying its fanciest planes on these routes. Emirates now flies day by day between Tel Aviv and Dubai on a Boeing 777-300, whereas FlyDubai operates some flights with its lie-flat-equipped Boeing 737 MAXes.

While Emirates positively gives the perfect general premium expertise with its first-class product, the 2-3-2 business-class configuration pales compared to El Al’s 1-2-1 configuration, which gives direct aisle entry at each seat.

Fancier facilities

Another welcome enchancment that I skilled on my latest El Al flight to Dubai was the introduction of fancier facilities.

Perhaps it was as a result of my flight was operated by a Dreamliner, which usually flies longer-haul missions, however ready at my seat throughout boarding was El Al’s signature pillow and quilt made by Hollandia.

I even acquired a L’Occitane-branded amenity package, which included a deal with for aviation fanatics — a pair of airline-branded socks bearing the airport codes of an El Al route. (I acquired the brilliant orange Tel Aviv-to-Hong Kong pair.)

I additionally appreciated the small tubes of hand cream and lip balm, in addition to the single-use refreshing towel.

When I flew the route again in 2020, I acquired an unbranded amenity package, stocked with socks, earplugs, a toothbrush and a watch masks.

Inflight leisure for all

In addition to the fancier seats on the Dreamliner, each flyer in all cabins acquired to take pleasure in a a lot better inflight leisure providing.

Each seat is provided with a high-definition leisure display screen, which is loaded with a collection of films, TV exhibits and video games. The transferring map is very customizable, and it even encompasses a new view that shows Jewish prayer instances in keeping with the plane’s current location.

El Al’s 737s don’t have built-in seatback leisure. Instead, the service put in pill stands in enterprise class that fold out from the middle console. Those sitting on the pointy finish of the airplane obtain an iPad loaded with films and TV exhibits to be used through the flight.

At the second, solely El Al’s Dreamliners and Boeing 777 plane function Wi-Fi connectivity powered by Viasat satellites. While that will theoretically characterize an improve over the unconnected Boeing 737 I flew again in 2020, El Al would not but provide web service on routes east of Israel.

That’s as a result of Viasat hasn’t but launched its third-generation satellite tv for pc that is set to offer world connectivity. However, it is price mentioning that I’ve acquired rave reviews from readers about El Al’s web service on transatlantic flights. Full flight plans that help streaming price $24.99 on routes to North America.

Big meals upgrades

Along with Israel dropping all COVID-19 restrictions, El Al has additionally introduced again its full onboard meal service, which I completely loved on my latest flight.

The breakfast entree choices have been both a tomato and cheese omelet or blintzes. I went with the latter, which was scrumptious.

The featured dish was served with a aspect of pickles and tomatoes, some Middle Eastern dips and salads, two miniature loaves of bread and a cheesecake dessert.

While the meals itself was tasty, I additionally appreciated the trendy crockery and the nice presentation of all of the meal contents.

Back after I flew in 2020, no scorching meals was provided, and the meal — proven above — was introduced with the plastic overlaying intact. Even the bread rolls again then have been individually wrapped, so the enhancements to the meal service have been particularly noticeable.

A brand new everlasting routing

As the crow flies, getting between Tel Aviv and Dubai requires flying proper over Saudi Arabia. That posed an issue for El Al for the reason that Kingdom traditionally did not enable Israeli-registered plane to make use of its airspace.

Without overfly rights, Israeli plane would want to fly over the Red Sea and across the Arabian Peninsula to get to and from Dubai, tacking on additional hours and pointless gasoline burn. However, UAE-based plane may transit over Saudi Arabia, placing Israeli airways at a big drawback.

Before flights have been launched between Israel and the UAE in 2020, authorities authorities labored to safe these overfly rights with Saudi Arabia.

They did, however with an enormous situation — the overfly rights solely utilized to routes to and from the UAE and Bahrain. Other flights, like El Al’s service to Bangkok and Phuket, would nonetheless have to divert round Saudi Arabia.

Two years later, nevertheless, there’s been extra diplomacy within the skies. Earlier this yr, Saudi Arabia opened its airspace to all Israeli plane underneath a pact brokered by the Biden administration.

This not solely is sweet information for the business feasibility of El Al’s UAE routes, however it additionally unlocks some key progress alternatives for the airline, together with doable locations in India and past.

However, the feasibility of those routes relies on Tel Aviv additionally receiving overfly rights from Oman, which continues to be a piece in progress.

Bottom line

For me, flying between Israel and the UAE on a nonstop El Al flight continues to be fairly surreal.

I’m lucky to have taken the inaugural business flight between these two international locations through the top of the pandemic in 2020, and I used to be nonetheless excited concerning the alternative to fly the route once more two years later.

This time, the expertise was considerably extra nice. For one, I did not have to fret about onerous COVID-19-related restrictions.

Also, the flight itself — from the time within the King David Lounge to the Dreamliner’s spectacular onboard expertise — was so a lot better than spherical one.

The subsequent time I fly the route, I’d love to present Emirates first-class a strive. However, with an outdated 2-3-2 configuration in enterprise class, El Al’s Dreamliner positively appears like the best way to go in for those who’re flying in enterprise.