Cathay Pacific Introduces New Route to Tel Aviv - And a Shorter Flying Time

In the past few days, Cathay Pacific Airways introduced an expansion of its global route network to Tel Aviv.

The four-times-a-week service will utilize the airline's newest workhorse - the Airbus A350. But what the airline neglected to boast is that its flying is shorter of its soon-to-be-competitor, El Al. One reason may be is that El Al is forced to fly longer sectors due to a requirement to avoid certain Middle Eastern countries.

According to numbers run by My Savvy Traveller, passengers flying Cathay will save at least 30 minutes on the outgoing (TLV-HKG) sector. While this may not seem much - added together with Cathay's famed inflight service and state-of-the-art aircraft - we believe frequent travellers will gravitate towards the Hong Kong-based carrier. Above and beyond that, El Al passengers are subjected to extra stringent security screening procedures.

Finally, Cathay Pacific is a member of the One World alliance for those hoping to accrue mileage. El Al has so far not joined any of the global airline alliances.