El Al, which flies twice weekly from Moscow to Tel Aviv, has begun to carry immigrants.
The Israeli air carrier, until recently restricted to business people and tourists, can now fill its unsold seats with olim. It landed 20 of them at Ben-Gurion Airport on Tuesday.
It was the first time El Al brought immigrants directly from the Soviet capital. About 100 arrived last week on a direct flight from Moscow by Transair, a new subsidiary of the Soviet state airline, Aeroflot.
Last month, the first direct Soviet immigrant flight was landed here by Aerolicht, a new venture by Israeli businessman Ya’acov Nimrodi using chartered Aeroflot planes.
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