Review of Arkia Israel Airlines flight Tel Aviv → Belgrad in Economy

introduction

Hello and welcome to my flight report about Arkia flight from TLV to BEG.
When I ordered this flight, Arkia mentioned that they will operate this flight on a leased aircraft and we would take off from terminal 1.
However, terminal 1 is still closed due to the situation in Israel. So better for us, we took off from terminal 3.
Also, they changed the aircraft to E-195. As you'll see, it was a good thing :)

My last flight with Arkia was in 2010, so let's see what's changed in 14 years.

TLV AIRPORT - TERMINAL 3

I arrived to the terminal 2 hours and 40 minutes before the flight.

As I entered to the terminal, I saw this long queue for check in:

I was happy, as I checked in already and since I flew with a small trolley bag, I didn't need to wait in this long queue.
5 minutes after, I was on my way to the hand baggage check and passport control:

Both of them went really fast, only 15 minutes.
I made my way to the terminal:

You can see the photos of the hostages in Gaza, it was very sad to see this.

I arrived to the duty free area:

As usual, a short visit in JR duty free shop:

Nothing special to tell about, the shop was a bit crowded at this time, since it was Friday morning, when there were many outbound flights, mainly to Europe.

I also visited the electronics and technology shop:

Then, I made my way to the food court:

As you can see, it was busy as well.
I bought a slice of Pizza for 22 ILS (approximately 6$ USD):

It was tasty and in fact, it was a good decision, since the buy on board prices weren't on the cheap side.

Flights status screen:

View of the terminal:

I made my way to the gate:

Our flight status was LAST CALL, as far as I remember, they didn't announce that the boarding started as they usually do.

I went to the toilets before the flight:

And as you can see, the toilets were clean and in good condition.

I continued my way to the gate:

Gate area:

A bus took us to the aircraft.
The bus was packed, I don't know why they did this, since 5-10 minutes later, they sent another bus with the remaining passengers.

You can see our bus in the left, and Elal's Boeing 737-800 (4X-EKM) with the UP color scheme:

And here our aircraft for this flight:

FLIGHT EXPERIENCE - TLV TO BEG

Aircraft information:
Embraer ERJ-195AR
4X-EMF
Delivered to Arkia in December 2017, meaning it was 6 years and 4 months old when I flew on it.

The legroom:

As you can see, the legroom wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either.
It was ok for this short flight.

Cabin view during boarding:

And some plane spotting during our way to the runway:
Elal Boeing 737-800 (4X-EKA):

Arkia Embraer ERJ-195AR (4X-EMC):

Elal Boeing 737-900ER (4X-EHB):

Elal Boeing 777-200ER (4X-ECD):

Runway 30/12:

Take off video from runway 26:

Beautiful sunrise over Tel Aviv:

10 minutes after take off, the cabin crew served a cup of water:

Cheers!

There was also buy on board menu, it wasn't cheap.

One hour into the flight, I went to the toilets:

The toilets condition was ok, it could be better.
The rest of the flight was uneventful and pretty good.

VISITING THE COCKPIT DURING LANDING

15 minutes before landing, the cabin crew invited me to the cockpit.

The jumpseat in the cockpit wasn't comfortable, but it was worth it :)
I had a small conversation with the pilots, they were very nice.

Photos from the cockpit during descent:

Landing video from the cockpit:

It was a special experience! I never visited the cockpit during landing.
After landing, the pilots taxied the aircraft to gate C12:

We arrived to the gate 10 minutes before the scheduled time.
Well done Arkia!

Cabin view during deboarding:

BEG AIRPORT

Goodbye 4X-EMF!

I made my way in the terminal, towards the passport control:

And also visited the toilets here…

As you can see, the toilets were in good condition and clean.

I continued on my way:

Baggage claim area:

Inbound flights area:

Thanks for reading!