El Al and the Soviet airline Aeroflot will begin direct flights between Tel Aviv and Moscow in January, according to an El Al delegation that returned from the Soviet capital Sunday.
The exact date the joint service will commence and other operational details have yet to be worked out by the managements of the two national airlines. Each will establish facilities in the other’s country to handle commercial and technical matters.
El Al has mapped its route for the three-hour-and-40-minute flight to Moscow. It crosses Cyprus, Turkey and the Black Sea.
The flights are expected to bring thousands of Soviet Jews to Israel each year, both those immigrating and those coming as tourists.
El Al announced, meanwhile, that it is resuming direct flights to Bulgaria at the end of December, after more than 25 years.
Weekly service will be provided by El Al’s charter flight subsidiary, Sun d’Or, and Balkan Air, Bulgaria’s national airline. The frequency will be increased during the summer tourist season.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
