After decades without direct flights between the two cities, Israel’s El Al airlines will soon begin offering nonstop flights between Boston’s Logan Airport and Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. The direct route should be in place by late spring 2015, the AP reported.
There will be direct flights between the two cities three days per week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. The flights will depart from Boston at 9:00 p.m., arriving in Tel Aviv at 3:05 p.m. the next day. The flights will leave Ben Gurion at 12:30 a.m. and arrive at Boston’s Logan at 5:45 a.m. the following day.
Josh Katzen, a businessman based in the Boston suburb of Newton, Massachusetts, was thrilled to hear there will once again be direct flights from Boston to Israel.
“I go to Israel two to three times per year,” Katzen said, “El Al serviced Boston years ago and it used to be a pleasure to fly direct from here, especially in the winter, when getting to JFK or Newark can be a real risk.”
For decades now the flight back from Israel has meant that Boston area residents would first land at John F. Kennedy Airport or at Newark Airport at 5:00 in the morning.
“I was always jealous of people who lived in the greater New York area who, when we landed at JFK or Newark at the crack of dawn would be home by 6:00 a.m., while I’d have to sit around in the airport until 8:00 a.m. to get a flight which didn’t arrive at Logan Airport until 9:00 a.m.,” Katzen told The Jewish Press. “Who wants to sit around in an airport for several hours at 5:00 in the morning after flying all night from Israel?
Boston had been the fourth largest market with service to Tel Aviv that did not have nonstop flights.
“Direct flights from Boston to Tel Aviv: a development that will only enhance the links between two of the most dynamic business arenas in the world. Further, it will allow those of us who organize Israel missions easier travel arrangements. No more New York City, Newark or Philly layover,” Rabbi Jon Hausman told The Jewish Press.
Hausman is the rabbi at Ahavath Torah Congregation which is in Stoughton, Massachusetts.
“I travel to Israel several times a year. Ten hour travel time rather than 15 hours or longer? I’ll take it,” Hausman said.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said the direct flights to Tel Aviv and back will open up new commercial and economic opportunities for Massachusetts and the region.