Summary

  • Delta Air Lines and El Al Israel Airlines have requested authorization to engage in reciprocal codeshare services beyond the United States and Israel, strengthening their partnership and offering customers more access to destinations.
  • Delta is looking to expand its offerings through El Al’s route map, including destinations like Sharm El-Sheikh, Frankfurt, and London Heathrow, among others.
  • Currently, Delta is not flying to Tel Aviv due to the conflict, but is monitoring the situation and offering travel waivers for affected customers.


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Delta Air Lines and El Al Israel Airlines requested the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) authorization to engage in reciprocal codeshare services in points beyond the United States and Israel.


Improving their partnership

Earlier this year, the Atlanta-based carrier Delta Air Lines announced a strategic partnership with Israel’s flagship carrier, El Al Israel Airlines. They both agreed to enter a mutual codeshare agreement, allowing them to place their designator code on the other airline’s flights and sell tickets for that flight.

Matteo Curcio, Delta Air Lines’s Senior Vice President for Europe, Middle East, and Africa, said this partnership and working closely with El Al would further strengthen Delta’s connection to Israel by offering more customers unrivaled access to destinations across the United States. Shlomi Zafrany, EL AL’s Vice President of Commercial and Industry Affairs, said: “We are delighted to offer our customers new ways to discover exciting destinations on both sides of the Atlantic through our partnership with Delta.”

An El Al Boeing 787 aircraft

Photo: Benthemouse | Shutterstock.

This week, both companies applied for an amendment of the blanket worldwide third-country codeshare exemption to permit Delta to provide codeshare services on flights operated by El Al to points neither in open-skies countries nor listed in Delta’s certificate.

They are looking to be able to engage in reciprocal codeshare services as follows:

  • Between any point or points in the United States and any point or points in Israel
  • Between points in the United States
  • Beyond the United States to any point or points
  • Beyond Israel to any point or points.

Delta requested this authorization to extend to flights conducted by all Delta Connection regional affiliates, Endeavor Air, Republic Airways, and SkyWest Airlines.

What points could Delta offer from El Al’s route map?

Through this filing, Delta Air Lines is looking to offer more destinations to its customers flying through El Al’s route map.

The US company has already announced which destinations it is eyeing in El Al’s route map. At least one of these destinations is part of the non-open skies points. Delta wants to offer flights to Sharm El-Sheikh (SSH) in Egypt. El Al currently flies once a week to Sharm El-Sheik, on Sundays, using a Boeing 737-800 with a capacity for 189 passengers.

A Delta Air Lines aircraft departing from Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport

Photo: natmac stock | Shutterstock.

Other destinations El Al offers that interest Delta Air Lines are Frankfurt (FRA) and London Heathrow (LHR) in European markets. Beyond markets, we can find Delhi (DEL), Mumbai (BOM), Dubai (DXB), Istanbul (IST), Bucharest (OTP), Sofia (SOF), Zagreb (ZAG), Tbilisi (TBS), Thessaloniki (SKG), Ljubljana (LJU), Larnaca (LCA), Tivat (TIV), and Paphos (PFO).

Is Delta currently flying to Israel?

Due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, Delta Air Lines is currently not flying to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV). It is continuously monitoring the security situation in Tel Aviv and updating its service to TLV from New York, Atlanta, and Boston. Additionally, Delta has instituted a travel waiver for customers who booked travel before October 11, 2023, to and from Tel Aviv so they can rebook their travel on available flights through September 6, 2024.

What do you think about Delta and El Al’s codeshare agreement? Are you excited about it? Let us know in the comments below.

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