Coming September 25th, you will now be able to fly to Tel Aviv from London Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic.

And for not much money at all, with Virgin offering a very competitive price against its rival British Airways.

London Virgin Atlantic
The new route has plenty of competition. Source: Google

What are the details?

Virgin Atlantic has published the new route on their website and included prices.

Source: Virgin Atlantic

In USD, these prices start at around $550. The basic economy options do not include checked baggage, but they do seem to offer the cheapest direct return fares.

Virgin Atlantic
The competition and their prices. Source: Google

If your willing to transfer, you can get cheaper fares from London to the Middle East. You can fly on Easy Jet for only $435 but included a grueling 5-hour stopover in Malpensa Airport (MXP) in Milan.

Naturally, this offer blows the current rival, British Airways, out of the water. At $714 USD for the same return trip, there is no way that they can be competitive.

British Airways Brexit
British Airways will need to find a new way to be competitive on this route. Photo: British Airways

Additionally, this new offer takes flag carrier El Al to the wall as well. Both these two airlines are going to have to seriously reconsider their price point in order to stay competitive.

The service will utilize an Airbus A330-300 and have three classes onboard. The first, economy has 30 inches of pitch, with included entertainment, meals and WIFI as an optional extra.

Source: Virgin Atlantic

There are actually three different economy options. The first, Economy light will not include a checked bag (it is 50 pounds for that option) whilst Economy Delight offers an extra legroom seat (of 38 inches).

Virgin Atlantic
Source: Virgin Atlantic

Premium economy includes a 38-inch pitch leather reclining seat. It also comes with two additional bags and a premium dining experience.

Source: Virgin Atlantic

There are 31 Upper Class seats onboard the A330, with 80 inches of pitch that can be deployed into a 78-inch flatbed. It also includes three 32kg bags, lounge access and more. However, unless you are flying at night (and both the outbound and inbound flight are during the day) this flatbed offer might be a little pointless.

Virgin Tel Aviv
Virgin will use the A330 for the Delhi route. Photo: Airbus

Overall, Virgin Atlantic is coming into this market swinging. They are offering a greatly reduced price for a direct flight (especially for the cheaper economy fares) that includes all the extras that you have to fight for on Easyjet. At the same time, they are also offering an excellent business class product that will easily be a competitive choice against the other airlines operating that route.

We are looking forward to seeing how this will disrupt the market, and how British Airways will try to stay competitive.

What do you think about this move by Virgin? Will you be flying to Israel?