United States Congressman Ritchie Torres has called on the ‘Big Three’ American airlines to resume flights to Israel. He claims that airlines are effectively boycotting or discriminating against Israel.
Calling on airlines to resume flights
Since October of last year, American carriers’ operations to Israel have been sporadic. This is because of ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, and now Israel and Hezbollah. Recently, all three major US airline canceled their operations to Israel.
Torres begins his letter by stating that the suspension of flights between the US and Israel has gone on for so long that it is impacting the market.
EL AL
, Israel’s flag carrier, has been the only airline consistently connecting the countries. Torres claims that because no airlines are competing, flights have become more expensive, and customers now face a de facto monopoly.
Photo: Dmitry Pistrov | Shutterstock
Because the US carriers’ exit of the Israeli market was voluntary, Torres said that airlines should not be allowed to effectively boycott travel to Israel and discriminate against the world’s only Jewish state. He adds,
“By what logic and in what universe is it safe for EL AL to travel to Israel but too dangerous for American Airlines, Delta, and United to do so? It is worth nothing that UAE airlines like Etihad, FlyDubai, and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi continue to fly to Israel without incident.”
Torres cites a 2014 36-hour ban from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on travel to Israel and believes that was justified as it was an order from a regulatory agency. He ends his letter by calling the CEOs of each major airline to resume flights and to operate under FAA guidance.
American Airlines will not resume Israel flights until 2025
Less than two weeks ago, Simple Flying reported that
American Airlines
had suspended its flights to Israel until April 2025. It has previously cut flights through October, but escalating tensions in the region led to an extension. Since the conflict with Hamas in Palestine broke out in October 2023, American has not served Tel Aviv, while Delta and United did resume their flights temporarily.
United Airlines indefinitely suspended
United resumed its operations to Tel Aviv in March, deploying the largest Boeing 787s, the 787-10s. But,
on April 20, canceled flights through May 2
because of conflict between Israel and Iran. At the time of the cancelation, United had planned to operate two daily flights to Tel Aviv on Saturdays and Sundays.
Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying
The Chicago-based carrier resumed its flights in early June and planned to go double daily from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) from June 20. Then, in early August, United suspended its flights once again.
“Beginning with this evening’s flight from Newark Liberty to Tel Aviv, we are suspending for security reasons our daily Tel Aviv service as we evaluate our next steps. We continue to closely monitor the situation and will make decisions on resuming service with a focus on the safety of our customers and crews.”
Delta Air Lines
Delta’s operations have also been off and on in 2024, but now, the airline has extended its suspension through the end of September. Previously, the decision had been taken to suspend flights in August, but ongoing conflict led the airline to continue its hiatus.