Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority has approved a request from Royal Jordanian Airlines to add two weekly flights to its schedule, increasing to 16 the carrier’s weekly trips between the Amman and Ben-Gurion international airport.

The two new flights, one each on Thursday and Saturday, will begin on May 1.

Most passengers on the Amman-Tel Aviv route are transiting through Jordan on their way to either the Far East or the United States. For example, there are daily flights from Sunday to Friday from Ben-Gurion International Airport to Bangkok, via Amman, with return flights are on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Royal Jordanian flies to New York from Ben-Gurion, via Amman, and back on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

These are continuing flights with short layovers in Amman. On other days, there are continuing flights with longer layovers that allow for travel within Jordan. If the layover in Amman is longer than eight hours or is at night, Royal Jordanian foots the bill for accommodations, airport transfers and meals.

According to figures from the Israel Airports Authority, Royal Jordanian Airlines has flown around 20,000 passengers to and from Ben-Gurion in the year to date, down 12% from the first quarter of 2013.