Israel Active

Timed for Jerusalem Day, Mobileye - Israel’s Jerusalem-based developer of advanced vision and driver assistance systems revealed the plans of its new campus, housing 4,000 employees. Eight buildings plus a 25-floor tower spread over 50,000 square meters in the Har Hotzvim High-Tech Park.

As announced previously the first Cathay Pacific airlines flight from Hong Kong to Israel landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.  To compete, El Al is offering bargain prices and free tickets to amusement parks.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has signed the first-ever trade agreement between the US and the Samaria Regional Council.  Miller said “… the signing of this agreement with Samaria is the starting point of long-term cooperation”

April 2017 was a record month for Ben Gurion Airport with 1.74 million passengers – a massive 26% more than in April 2016.  Over 5 million passengers have passed through the airport in the first four months of 2017 – an increase of 20% over the same period in 2016.  Another all-time-record of 349,000 foreign citizens visited Israel in April – 38% more than in 2016.

Israel is to double the size of the Northern city of Akko (Acre) by building 17,000 new housing units, hundreds of classrooms, plus daycare centers, synagogues, libraries and sports centers. The NIS 3 billion project will attract young families, revitalizing the city and the entire western Galilee.

Israel’s foreign exchange reserves rose by another $1.97 billion during April, to reach a record $105.14 billion (33% of GDP).  It includes $250 million added into the fund set-up to reduce some of the adverse effects of natural gas production on the exchange rate.

El Al is launching a new non-stop service, three times a week between Miami International airport and Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport starting in November.

Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair is adding Bremen and Dusseldorf to its 14 winter routes into Ovda airport, near Eilat.  Ryanair has already announced 7 new routes to Tel Aviv.

Quebec Province Premier Philippe Couillard is leading a delegation to Israel of 80 Canadian businesspeople from the aviation, transportation, IT, and medical industries. It is reported to be the largest-ever business delegation to visit Israel.

The US and Israel-America Chambers of Commerce have set-up a new program called Business Israel. It will bring executives from all 50 US states to Israel, to expand US markets and collaborate with Israeli companies in water, agriculture, cybersecurity and health.