The First US Airline Just Went Back to Tel Aviv

Delta Air Lines restarted daily nonstop service between New York JFK and Ben Gurion Airport on 6 September, becoming the first US carrier to return to Tel Aviv after a suspension driven by the region’s security situation. The outbound flight left New York on Saturday and landed in Israel on Sunday morning; the first northbound service departs Tel Aviv today. Delta is flying the route with the Airbus A330-900neo, which carries the full four-cabin layout of Delta One, Premium Select, Comfort and Main Cabin rather than a stripped-down recovery configuration.

United Airlines is close behind. The carrier is scheduled to resume two daily Newark to Tel Aviv flights on 8 September, which within a week will give the New York area three daily nonstops on US metal where there were none. For passengers, the practical difference is not just convenience. Connecting itineraries through European hubs have been the only option for months, and they carry the usual risks of a missed connection plus the specific problem that onward Tel Aviv capacity has been tight and rebooking options thin.

Delta said the decision followed what it described as a thorough review of the evolving security environment, with the safety of customers and crew as the deciding factor. Airlines evaluate these routes continuously rather than once, which is why resumptions in this market have repeatedly been announced, delayed and re-announced over the past two years. Nothing about a restart guarantees permanence, and travellers booking well ahead should understand that the schedule is contingent in a way that a route to Rome or Madrid is not.

The two American carriers are joining a broader rebuilding of US-Israel service that has been under way through the summer, with several foreign airlines restoring frequencies to Ben Gurion. More seats normally means lower fares, and the Tel Aviv market has been unusually expensive precisely because supply collapsed while demand from family, business and religious travel did not. Whether prices fall meaningfully will depend on how quickly the rest of the schedule fills back in, and how confident carriers feel by the time winter bookings open.

Sources: Airways Magazine, AeroTime