Alitalia (AZA, Rome Fiumicino) will commence direct A320-200 flights between Athens, Greece and Tel Aviv Ben Gurion, Israel during the second quarter of this year Airline Route has reported. It is the first such route Alitalia operates making use of the Open Skies agreement between the European Union and Israel.

The daily, year-round service is tentatively scheduled to begin in May this year and will compete with the likes of Aegean Airlines (A3, Athens), El Al Israel Airlines (LY, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion) and Israir (6H, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion) which offer the market 1419, 960, and 522 seats per week respectively.