[P]American starts code-sharing Swiss flights from Israel[/P]
[P][BR]JERUSALEM, Dec 25 (Reuters) - American Airlines said on Wednesday it signed a deal to code-share flights with Swiss <CROZn.S> from Tel Aviv, allowing passengers to fly from Israel to the United States via Switzerland using an American ticket.[/P]
[P]American, a division of AMR Corp <AMR.N>, becomes the third U.S. carrier to code-share flights out of Israel. Delta <DAL.N> has teamed up with flights on Israeli national carrier El Al[/P]
[P]1/8ELAL.UL 3/8, while United code-shares on Lufthansa <LHAG.F> flights to Germany.[/P]
[P]The U.S. market is the strongest in Israel so everyone is trying to get a bit of the market share, said Jonathan Bobrov, sales manager for American in Tel Aviv.[/P]
[P]The American code share deal with Swiss is effective immediately and will be for Swiss''s daily flights -- including those that Swiss already code-shares with El Al -- between Zurich and Tel Aviv.[/P]
[P]It will allow for a direct flight from Tel Aviv to New York with a stopover in Zurich, Bobrov said.[/P]
[P]He cited cost-cutting, more exposure to American and an increased network as reasons American made the deal with Swiss.[/P]
[P]While tourism to Israel has dropped sharply since the start of a Palestinian uprising in September 2000, most carriers have reported high capacity and profitable routes, mainly due to Israelis traveling abroad.[/P]
[P][BR] [/P]
[P][BR]JERUSALEM, Dec 25 (Reuters) - American Airlines said on Wednesday it signed a deal to code-share flights with Swiss <CROZn.S> from Tel Aviv, allowing passengers to fly from Israel to the United States via Switzerland using an American ticket.[/P]
[P]American, a division of AMR Corp <AMR.N>, becomes the third U.S. carrier to code-share flights out of Israel. Delta <DAL.N> has teamed up with flights on Israeli national carrier El Al[/P]
[P]1/8ELAL.UL 3/8, while United code-shares on Lufthansa <LHAG.F> flights to Germany.[/P]
[P]The U.S. market is the strongest in Israel so everyone is trying to get a bit of the market share, said Jonathan Bobrov, sales manager for American in Tel Aviv.[/P]
[P]The American code share deal with Swiss is effective immediately and will be for Swiss''s daily flights -- including those that Swiss already code-shares with El Al -- between Zurich and Tel Aviv.[/P]
[P]It will allow for a direct flight from Tel Aviv to New York with a stopover in Zurich, Bobrov said.[/P]
[P]He cited cost-cutting, more exposure to American and an increased network as reasons American made the deal with Swiss.[/P]
[P]While tourism to Israel has dropped sharply since the start of a Palestinian uprising in September 2000, most carriers have reported high capacity and profitable routes, mainly due to Israelis traveling abroad.[/P]
[P][BR] [/P]
