While it seems like there are a lot of hurdles to overcome, it’s interesting to see the government even proposing this…
Emirates asked to operate seventh freedom Israel flights
Israel’s N12 publication is reporting that Israel’s Ministry of Transportation has met with senior officials from Emirates, and has made a surprising request. Specifically, the country is proposing that Emirates launches seventh freedom flights from Tel Aviv (TLV) to both New York (JFK) and Bangkok (BKK), and possibly other destinations.
This would allow Emirates to transport passenger exclusively between Israel and the United States and Thailand. I’ve written a lot about fifth freedom flights, whereby airlines operate to another country via a third country. But this is even a seventh freedom proposal, so it wouldn’t even have to be in conjunction with a flight to or from Dubai (DXB).
Before October 7, 2023, Emirates was operating a massive schedule between Dubai and Tel Aviv, as relations between the two countries have warmed up in recent years. However, the airline hasn’t flown to Israel since then, so it has been over two years. Apparently this move is part of a larger deal in hopes of getting Emirates to finally return to Israel.
There’s one major catch, though — aviation laws in Israel would need to be changed for this to happen. While the proposal has the support by the country’s Ministry of Transportation, you can expect that competing airlines in Israel will of course petition to block this.
This would be good for consumers, but seems unlikely
Israel obviously really wants Emirates to resume service to the country. The Israeli government has historically taking a pretty protectionist approach to its airlines, so it’s wild to see the country inviting Emirates to set up seventh freedom flights out of the airport, as that’s truly unprecedented.
Emirates already has several fifth freedom flights that touch the United States, including New York (JFK) to Milan (MXP), Newark (EWR) to Athens (ATH), and Miami (MIA) to Bogota (BOG). However, this would potentially even be a step further.
In theory, I imagine Emirates is open to new fifth freedom opportunities. And suffice it to say that both US and Israeli airlines would hate to see Emirates launching service in these markets, given what it means for competition.
However, on both sides, this strikes me as a real uphill battle:
- Israel needs to actually change its laws to allow this, and I imagine the local airlines will be very vocal with their opposition
- From an overall regional optics and political standpoint, I question if Emirates finds this to be worthwhile any time in the near future
Anyway, this is definitely something worth keeping an eye on, and I’m curious to see what comes of this, if anything!
Bottom line
The Israeli government is inviting Emirates to set up a base in Tel Aviv, and fly to New York and Bangkok. This seems to be part of an overall larger negotiation, in hopes of getting Emirates to resume its service between Dubai and Tel Aviv, which has been suspended for well over two years now.
Emirates is always looking for interesting fifth freedom opportunities, and this is an unexpected one that wasn’t on my radar. However, there are lots of hurdles here, not the least of which is that laws have to be changed in Israel for this to be allowed.
What do you make of the prospect of Emirates operating seventh freedom flights out of Tel Aviv?