El Al to Offer Direct Flights to Australia

CTech and Algemeiner

Israel’s national airline El Al will test out direct flights from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport to Melbourne, Australia, the company announced in a stock market filing Wednesday. The flight, aimed to gauge interest in the potential of launching such a route indefinitely, will take off in the second quarter of 2020. The flight to Melbourne is approximately 16 hours and 45 minutes, and the flight to Tel Aviv is estimated at 17 hours and 45 minutes.

Last month, Australia’s Qantas airlines tested out the world’s longest direct flight route, connecting New York to Sydney in a little over 19 hours. If officially launched, the route from Israel to Australia is expected to become one of the ten longest direct flight routes.