A prestigious event was held to mark the launch of the new codeshare flights at the residence of H.E Mr. Chris Canna, Australian Ambassador to Israel.

More than 100 dignitaries attended the event amongst them, Mr David Maimon, El Al's CEO; Mr Markus Svensson, Qantas' Regional General Manager UKEME and Ms Parviz Ladha, Manager Offline Europe & Israel; Gideon Thaler, TAL Aviation's President & CEO plus staff of TAL Aviation's Israel team; government officials; ambassadors and decision-makers of the travel industry.

The new codeshare which came into effect this week, follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) earlier in year between Qantas' CEO and El Al's President and witnessed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to deepen the relationship between the two carriers.

Effective immediately Qantas will be adding its QF code to El Al operated flights from Tel Aviv to three Qantas hubs – Hong Kong, Bangkok and Johannesburg.    El Al will be adding its code to Qantas services that operate between Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hong Kong; between Sydney and Bangkok; and between Sydney and Johannesburg. 

Customers will earn and redeem frequent flyer points on both airlines.  Reciprocal lounge access will be available for eligible customers of both airlines in Tel Aviv, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hong Kong. Eligible customers will also be able to access lounges available to Qantas customers in Bangkok and Johannesburg.

Photo from left to right: Mr Markus Svensson – Regional General Manager UKEME Qantas Airways; Mr David Maimon – CEO, El  Al Airlines; Mrs Hanny Sobol – CEO, Israel Association of Travel Agencies & Consultants; Mr Gideon Thaler, President & CEO TAL Aviation 

Photo: His Excellency Mr Chris Canna – Australian Ambassador to Israel