The airline Universal Air, based in Malta, plans to operate flights between Israel and Romania, as well as charter flights for the Romanian market. The company Universal Air started operating, this year, flights from Haifa (Israel), a city where the largest community of Israelis of Romanian origin lives, and in the near future it aims to offer more flight options for Romania. It is the first time in the history of aviation that air flights will be operated from Haifa to Romania.
The Universal Air company, which already operates successfully on the Israeli market, aims to develop its activities on the Romanian market. From the winter season, the flights from Suceava, Craiova and Bucharest (Aurel Vlaicu Băneasa International Airport) to Haifa, with return from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, will be launched for the first time.
The races will be operated with 400-seat Bombardier DASH Q78 aircraft.
These aircraft are very comfortable for passengers and offer the possibility of operating an increased frequency of charter flights. The first flights, on the Bucharest - Haifa route, will be operated from mid-September.
"Although we are a new airline, we have expanded our operations very quickly. We will soon increase our fleet with several 400-seat Bombardier DASH Q78 aircraft, which we will start operating from the winter season. We are delighted that Romania is becoming one of our air hubs, alongside Israel (Haifa). We will also offer charter flights to Malta, where our head office is located. The Romanian aviation market is very dynamic and we will offer both scheduled and charter flights", says Simon Cook, CEO of Universal Air.
"We are getting closer to recovering what we lost in the 2020-2022 period in terms of the number of tourists. For the Romanian coast, we started operating weekly flights from Israel with planes with 220 seats, the first flight being 100% full. On the other hand, together with Universal Air, we are open to operating charter flights for Romanian tourists, for other foreign destinations.
We will have two weekly flights to Israel from Aurel Vlaicu Baneasa International Airport in the winter season, three weekly flights in the 2024 summer season, respectively one weekly flight to Craiova, Suceava, but depending on requests, from any airport in Romania. Bombardier Q400 aircraft are very economical, so certain flights can be operated lightly and with 52-54 passengers.
We will not stop here, we will offer more pleasant surprises in the near future. At the present time, for the period September - May 2024, the flights from Bucharest - Băneasa, Craiova and Suceava are almost fully booked", emphasizes Meidan Butnaru, representative of Universal Air for Romania and Israel.
Universal Air intends to operate in the charter market
Universal Air intends to operate on the market of charter flights, together with Romanian tour operators, new destinations, less promoted, which can be served with smaller planes. The airline also plans to operate domestic flights between cities in Romania. A great advantage of our country is that it has many international airports, most of them being modernized, and the Universal Air fleet is also adapted to shorter runways. The flights departing from Bucharest to Haifa offer a complete stay of 6 nights / 7 days, leaving at 7 am and returning at 8 pm.