Emirates has been given final approval from Israeli authorities to begin service to Ben Gurion international airport in Tel Aviv. Service will start in January 2021. In preparation, Emirates is launching a Kosher food facility in the UAE.
Emirates Prepares For New Dubai – Tel Aviv Flights
Moments after Israel and the United Arab Emirates announced a historic peace deal in August, I noted that Emirates has a huge new opportunity in Israel.
With EL AL facing a fight for its survival and currently grounded over escalating labor disputes, the timing could not be more perfect for Emirates to expand its route map.
Even with EL AL set to restart service with new emphasis on its onboard product, Emirates will soon offer passengers in Israel one-stop service to most of the world. This represents a groundbreaking upgrade to aviation in Israel and will not be limited by the Sabbath restrictions that bar EL AL from operating from sundown on Friday through sundown on Saturday.
Israeli news outlets have noted that Emirates has secured approval to operate out of Ben Gurion and will start service in January.
> Read More: Emirates’ Huge New Opportunity In Israel
Emirates Brings Kosher Meals In-House With New UAE Facility
Emirates recently unveiled Kosher Arabia, its new in-house, dedicated food production facility to produce Kosher food. While Emirates has offered onboard Kosher meals for years, those meals have been outsourced. The new facility seeks to offer better quality meals by bringing production in-house. If Emirates’ Kosher food is as tasty as it non-Kosher food, I expect observant customers will be quite satisfied.
Saeed Mohammed, CEO of Emirates Flight Catering, noted:
“We are delighted to enter into an agreement with CCL to provide Kosher food. For many years, EKFC has been offering kosher meals primarily to our airline customers, via an outsourced supplier overseas. We’ve been watching the global trends for kosher food, and with recent developments we expect that demand for kosher food in the UAE and region will grow quickly. Our partnership will cover all food channels and we will also explore opening restaurants across Dubai and the GCC.
“By setting up our own capability at EKFC to produce kosher food, we are confident that we can better serve our customers not only in the aviation sector, but also in the hospitality, F&B, and events sector including the upcoming Expo 2020. Making freshly prepared meals here in the UAE gives us better control over meal design and quality assurance.”
CONCLUSION
We are still waiting on schedules, frequencies, aircraft types, and other key details about the new route. But we now know Emirates will launch service from Dubai in January 2021 and has opened up a dedicated Kosher facility in Dubai. While Dubai itself will be a draw for many Israelis, the bigger draw will be connectivity to the world now easier than ever before.
image: Emirates
Peace is fantastic, and competition nearly as good. El Al is a gross parasite on the Israeli public, paying a few lucky pilots US$500K/yr., sucking up subsidies paid for with taxes, and shafting the Israeli public with mediocre service (no service on Saturday) and high prices. A shuttle between TLV-Dubai and onward connections anywhere east and south will do a lot to solve this problem. Now the small matter of Israel ending its Coronavirus overreaction and opening its borders.
Can’t wait for the whole “no women can sit next to me because I’m an orthodox Jewish man” thing to play out on emirates