This week saw the announcement by the airline U.S. Airways that it is launching a new service between Philadelphia and Tel Aviv. This will add to the increasing competition on a lucrative route.

Significantly, U.S. Airlines is not the only company upping the stakes over flights to Israel. And this is in a year, when many companies are hurting as a result of the global recession.

BMI recently doubled its service to the UK, now operating 14 flights a week. Cleverly, they have targeted the commercial community, a deliberate move on El Al’s and British Airways’ profitable clientelle.

Guess what? Prices are dropping and the flights are full, even with the additional seats.

That is a lot of extra business travellers turning up in the Holy Land from Britain.