El Al Israel Airlines inaugurated flights from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Miami International Airport to Ben Gurion Airport this week, it was announced here by Y.Shrem, senior vice president of El Al in North and Central America. The flights from Chicago will be twice weekly, departing Mondays and Thursdays at 12 noon. Flights from Miami will be once a week, on Tuesdays.
The flights from Chicago, which began Monday, climaxes more than 10 years of effort by Israel, supported by the Jewish community and state, local, federal government officials and Congressmen, particularly Sen. Charles Percy (R.III.), to obtain landing rights at O’Hare.
“The convenience offered by our new Chicago service should benefit both Israel’s tourism and the Midwest travel industry,” said Akiva Sharon, El Al’s Chicago district manager. “More than 50,000 persons from the Midwest visited Israel in 1978, of which some 15,000 were from the Chicago area.” He added that the new direct Chicago/Tel Aviv/Chicago flights would stimulate more people from the Midwest to travel to Israel. According to Shrem, El Al’s direct flights from Miami also mark the first air link between Florida and the Middle East.
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