Vatican newly inaugurated airline to fly pilgrims to Israel
port2port.com
Unconfirmed reports indicated last week that the low cost Vatican airline company had signed an agreement with Israel’s Ministry of Tourism to fly pilgrims to Israel
Vatican Airlines’ which operates a chartered Boeing 737, run by Italy’s Mistral Air, has drawn plans to ferry some 150,000 Catholic pilgrims to many of the most important Catholic shrines, including Lourdes in France, Fatima in Portugal, Czestochowa in Poland and Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Thousands of these Catholic pilgrims will also travel to visit Mount Sinai in Egypt, where Moses is said to have received the 10 Commandments from Godand places in the Holy Land. Vatican Airlines promises fairs 10% lower than competition. Alas, tickets are only intended for Catholic pilgrims, and Israeli tourists won’t be able to make the flight to Italy on the dedicated airline.
Israel’s Ministry of Tourism has been preparing several packages for the occasion, touring regions such as Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.
Founded in 1981, Mistral Air functions mainly as a cargo transport service. The Italian state postal service and the Vatican pilgrimage office are both shareholders in the company, which intends to use the same aircraft to fly pilgrims by day and cargo by night.
