Sales for the new route went on sale on the 6 December with economy fares starting from £243 ($494) and business fares starting from £880 ($1,788) including taxes and charges.

The route will be operated by an Airbus A320 in two class configurations with 20 seats in business and 108 in economy.

“The route allows us to serve next year a market we had identified as having potential for greater competition and that fits ideally into our mid-haul expansion strategy from Heathrow,” said bmi CEO, Nigel Turner.

The flight schedule is specifically designed to offer passengers well-timed connections to bmi services to and from regional airports, including those in Scotland, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Durham Tees Valley, Belfast and Dublin.

Nigel Turner added: “Tel Aviv is a key destination in the Middle East and its addition further enhances our ever-growing network of destinations in an area of economic growth and development.”

Bilateral talks between the UK and Israeli governments led bmi to enter the Heathrow to Tel Aviv market.

Bmi successfully applied to the Civil Aviation Authority for designation as the second UK carrier permitted under the new agreement.

17 December 2007