El Al has today revealed more details about its new low-cost carrier called UP, which will offer fares starting at around £42 for a one way ticket and 50 flights a week from five European cities.

The new UP airline, which will serve Berlin, Budapest, Kiev, Prague and Larnaca, will provide both economy and economy plus services, and give passengers the option to choose which services they want to use and pay for.

In practice this means travellers will have to pay around an extra £6 to book seats in advance and £25 to check in luggage on the day of their flight.

El Al’s foray into low cost European flights was made possible by Israel’s signing of the EU Open Skies Agreement earlier this year, which opens up competition for airport landing slots in line with EU regulations.

The CEO of El Al, Eliezer Shakedi said that the launch of UP meant that his company was “joining the trend in the international airline industry” and said he was convinced EL AL’s customer base would now be widened.

However the new UP service is likely to face stiff competition from other carriers in the low-cost flight market.

EasyJet has been offering flights form London to Tel Aviv since as early as 2009 and last week announced a sixth Israel route with new flights between Tel Aviv and Berlin.