It now plans to fly daily from June 14 and is then expected to increase that number to two daily flights over the summer, in line with the Israeli government’s road map for opening up to foreign nationals, the airline said.
Bookings from Israel on Virgin Atlantic flights “soared” on Saturday, said Nicholas Bettles, the Israel country manager, with the Tel Aviv-Heathrow route becoming the third-most booked route in the airline’s network.
The “green list” of the British government of 12 low-risk territories includes Gibraltar, the Faroe Islands and the Falkland Islands — but not major vacation destinations such as France, Spain and Greece.
Israel will open its borders to vaccinated or recovered tourists in tour groups from 14 destinations starting May 23: the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Iceland, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
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