Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA) from May 20 launched a direct regular flight between Lviv and Tel-Aviv, the airline said in a press release.

"UIA flights connecting Lviv and Tel-Aviv will be serviced from May 20 to September 16, 2015 once a week on Wednesdays. Departure from Lviv is at 14:40 and arrival to Tel-Aviv is at 21:00 local time. Departure from Tel-Aviv is at 22:00 and landing in Lviv at 01:30 local time," reads the report.

Boeing 737 and Embraer 190 with economy and business classes will service the flights. The price of a round trip economy class ticket is from UAH 6,561 from Lviv and from $321 from Tel-Aviv.

In the summer the airline plans to launch flights from Lviv to Odesa, Rome, Bologna and Madrid.

UIA President Yuriy Miroshnykov said during a press conference that the flight to Israel is the first route out of four which UIA will launch from Lviv this summer.

"On June 19, we launch the flight between Lviv and Odesa, on June 21 – the Lviv-Bologna flight and on June 25 – the Lviv-Madrid flight. Flights abroad will be performed once a week," he said.

He predicted that the flights to Tel-Aviv will reach 80% capacity.

In addition, UIA plans to organize charter flights from Lviv to Turkey, Egypt, Montenegro and Tunisia this summer.

Honorary Consul of Israel Oleg Vysniakov said that the opening of the direct flights between Lviv and the capital of Israel will promote an increase in tourist flow between the two countries.

He said that there are good prospects for developing mutual medical tourism, and one should not forget about religious tourism – Christians from western Ukraine will be able to visit Holy places in Israel and the Jews will be able to visit holy places in western Ukraine.

Vysniakov expects that relations between businessmen of the two countries will develop and in autumn 2015 a large business forum with the participation of Israeli businessmen will take place.

"Many investors are interested in the western region of Ukraine, as now it is safe there and money could be invested," he said.

UIA was founded in 1992. It is the largest Ukrainian airline. Its hub airport is Boryspil (Kyiv). The UIA fleet consists of 32 aircraft, including 28 medium-haul and four long-haul airplanes.