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ASL to launch low-cost Tel Aviv-Paris flights

Israel Materials 11 April 2018 10:39 (UTC +04:00)
ASL Airlines France is trying to grab a share of the market for direct flights between Tel Aviv and Paris by offering an especially low price
ASL to launch low-cost Tel Aviv-Paris flights

ASL Airlines France is trying to grab a share of the market for direct flights between Tel Aviv and Paris by offering an especially low price: $275 for a round-trip flight. ASL will begin operating two weekly flights to Israel on July 3, competing with a range of rivals on direct flights to Paris, including El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL), Air France, Transavia Airlines, XL, Arkia Airlines, and easyJet, Globes reports.

Passenger traffic on the Tel Aviv-Paris route totaled over 855,000 passengers in 2017, 4% more than in the preceding year. Paris is the second most popular destination for Israelis after Istanbul, from where over 85% of passengers continue to other destinations.

”This is a high-volume route with lively traffic. Despite the large number of airlines, there is still a shortage of seats,” Jean-Francois Dominiak, who has been CEO of ASL since 2000, told “Globes.” “Competition is a spur, not something that deters us. It's clear to us that we'll be able to take market share away from El Al, whose prices are double ours.”

ASL is part of the ASL group, founded in Ireland, which includes a number of airlines from countries in Europe (Belgium, Spain, Ireland, and others). The group finished 2017 with a €1 billion turnover. The carrier's air fleet contains 140 airplanes and 2,500 staff from 52 countries. ASL France has a fleet of 15 airplanes and a turnover of €150 million. The company is in the midst of changing and adapting to a dynamic market. “The low cost airlines are growing in France, too, as they are all over the world,” Dominiak says. The adaptation includes extending its portfolio of charter flights to regular flights like the one on the route to Israel. The company began mostly as a cargo airline with an emphasis on passenger flights. Its business is now equally divided between cargo and passengers. ASL has also developed a plane that can be converted from a cargo plane to a passenger plane in 20 minutes.

”El Al faces growing competition. Our strong point is service, and that's how we want passengers to distinguish us. It sounds like a slogan, but it's something that we apply in practice,” Dominiak declares. The company's planes are narrow-bodied with 150 seats, including 14 in business class. “The small airliner enables us to achieve full occupancy, and reflects a streamlining model that is expressed in the ticket price,” he explains.

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