El Al will stop flying to Toronto this fall, ceding the Canadian market to Star Alliance member Air Canada. Canada’s flag carrier offers year-round nonstop service between Toronto and Tel Aviv and seasonal nonstop service between Montreal and Tel Aviv. El Al has kept Air Canada fares in check, and I’d expect fares between Canada and Israel to eventually rise as a result of this.
El Al will also discontinue flights to Warsaw and Brussels.
Airlines across the world have been cutting flights as pilot shortages wreak havoc with airline schedules.
Flights between Tel Aviv and Toronto have long been cheaper than to El Al’s US destinations and El Al will apparently be looking for more lucrative markets for their fleet. New markets such as Miami have done well for the airline.
I have had several friends drive the 4.5 hours or fly the short flight from Cleveland to Toronto to catch a nonstop El Al flight to Israel at a fraction of the cost of other flights to Israel, so it’s not just a loss for Canadians.
El Al will continue their Toronto flights until after the Tishrei holiday season, with the final flight in both directions scheduled for October 27.
A petition was launched to try to convince El Al to stay in Toronto, though I’m skeptical of the author’s claims, given that El Al surely has better data on the route’s profitability and growth potential than he does.
Will you miss this flight? Do you think El Al will return to the Canadian market in the future?
HT: Eli Webster
Leave a Reply
16 Comments On "El Al Says Goodbye To Canada, Eh?"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions arenāt provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
that is a loss. I did fly from CLE a few years ago to take that flight from YYZ-TLV. I was hoping to go again in November but will have to make other plans. Maybe this decision played into adding 3rd weekly flight from BOS?
Perhaps AirTransat will pick up the Route?
I was thinking this as well. They have flown Montreal-Tel Aviv before, and ElAl leaving the Toronto market is a good opportunity for them to compete in the far larger Toronto-Tel Aviv market.
My first El flight from Toronto was 1997 back when the last few rows were the smoking sectionā¦
As a Torontonian this is a loss. The flights always seemed full (aside from Covid) and I bet they could have filled additional planes if the schedule were expanded.
I generally preferred AC because of availability. AC flights are also always packed. This a popular route so certainly a strange decision.
Canada and Israel had very strict covid policies. It must have been a tough couple of years.
It’s easy to fill a plane.
To fill it profitable is a very different proposition. With significantly lower rates that the US flights, I can’t say that I’m surprised. And Canada’s COVID policies certainly hurt as well.
As someone that lives in toronto the I usually flew elal as it seemed to be always be cheaper. Prices will go up now
Exactly.
AC is also dominant in Toronto, so they were always able to command a premium due to the built in loyalty.
The vast majority of Canadians are in favor of their silly vaccine/mask mandates – hopefully soon they will come to their senses when they become isolated from the rest of the universe!
If they weren’t making a profit– why were they charging so much less than their flights to the US? If prices were similar maybe they would have stuck around profitably? It’s hard to imagine that Toronto-Tel Aviv is less profitable than some of the US markets they serve which are smaller.
It’s a fine science to charge the right price to maximize revenue, but lower prices typically mean lower demand. They don’t want seats going out empty.
Omry Cohen, you are ruining the airline. Medicare is your strength.
Such a shame š no competition = higher prices, fewer flights. These are the only 2 airlines who fly direct to Israel. And AC doesnt have kosher kids meals, just a regular mehadrin one. Plus, we like flying ElAl for the Hebrew and safer flight.
“El Al has kept Air Canada fares in check, and Iād expect fares between Canada and Israel to eventually rise as a result of this.”
I’m skeptical of this, as AC is part of the Star Alliance Trans Atlantic joint venture, with LH, LX, OS, SN, and UA, they don’t really set their own fares, maybe just on the non stops they can, but I’m not sure of the exact JV rules for their own hubs.
Very surprised to see this news– Air Canada and ElAl have both served Toronto-Tel Aviv for decades at this point. I wonder what changed specifically now? It’s not like the marker got smaller. This is a big loss loss for those in Toronto and the surrounding area– here in Cleveland, many of us drive to Toronto to get the nonstop flight to Tel Aviv, and it’s usually WAY cheaper than anywhere else in North America. Air Canada will raise prices significantly now.
Back in the day Canada was the routing for the MIA-TLV “direct route.” You used to fly on a chartered flight from MIA-YUL and then connect directly to the YUL-TLV flight.
We need a Delta flight Lax to Tlv