After American suddenly ended their nonstop service from Philadelphia to Tel Aviv after merging with USAirways there were only 5 North American airports with nonstop service to Tel Aviv. American said the reason for the cancellation is that the route has always been a money-loser. The timing was curious and that statement was even more curious as former USAirways’ president Scott Kirby (now president of United) had called the route among the most lucrative in the USAirways system. It’s worth noting that American still owes Israeli ex-TWA employees over $15 million…
That was a low point, but after that things have been looking up for the North America-Tel Aviv market.
United added 3 weekly San Francisco-Tel Aviv flights and they performed so well that United quickly changed it to daily service.
Then El Al announced that they will resume service from Miami nonstop to Tel Aviv in the 3rd quarter of this year. They last operated that route in 2008. El Al will be receiving their new 787s starting in the 3rd quarter of 2017 and it seems likely that they would operate on the route.
Montreal based Air Transat has just started selling twice weekly nonstop service from Montreal to Tel Aviv on an A330. It will fly from Montreal to Tel Aviv on Sundays and Wednesdays from June 18th until October 29th and from Tel Aviv to Montreal on Mondays and Thursdays from June 19th until October 30th.
The Montreal-Tel Aviv route has been operated in the past by Air Canada and El Al, but there hasn’t been regularly scheduled service on the route since 2000.
For those keeping score at home that means that the 75-78 weekly flights between North America and Tel Aviv in the summer/fall of 2017 should look like:
Boston: 3 weekly flights on El Al.
JFK: 7 weekly flights on Delta, 16 weekly flights on El Al.
Los Angeles: 5 weekly flights on El Al.
Miami: Unknown number (Likely between 3-6) of weekly flights on El Al starting Q3.
Montreal: 2 weekly flights on Air Transat.
Newark: 14 weekly flights on United, 6 weekly flights on El Al.
San Francisco: 7Â weekly flights on United.
Toronto: 7 weekly flights on Air Canada, 5 weekly flights on El Al.
Looking forward, it’s likely that El Al or United will start service on the Chicago-Tel Aviv route. Both Delta and El Al have tried Atlanta-Tel Aviv route in the past, neither airline was successful with that route, but the Atlanta airport has lobbied for a return of one of those flights.
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31 Comments On "At Least 8 North American Airports Will Have Nonstop Service To Tel Aviv This Year!"
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Air Canada does not fly daily from Toronto as far as I am aware
@Yoel:
“in the summer/fall of 2017”
why Montreal?
I would have been more likely to guess DC, Chicago or Mexico City.
Would like to see United or El Al service from Philadelphia
El Al will fly the YYZ – TLV route in the summer 5 times weekly (not 4)
@ABC:
Because air transat does not service those airports
Dan, curious, when did elal fly from Baltimore to tlv?
@Michael:
Unlikely to happen.
@yandmk:
Was showing 4 previously, thanks.
@Bob:
Indeed.
@Ji:
https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1996/1996%20-%200794.html
@Bob, for you and Dan I’ll be clearer:
What’s the economics behind Montreal-TLV?
It’s been so strange that there’s no non-stop from the US capital. A return to BWI would fix that. I’m not sure the delay of 787s is the only issue. (Ask Mr Neger of Sabra Tours, who seems to know a lot.) The old el al service from BWI, btw, was over 15 yrs ago — actually a one stop through Toronto but without a second check in. Better than nothing, but I’d rather see a non-stop announced along with the move of our embassy to The Eternal Capital. There’s certainly enough traffic from the area to warrant out.
@ABC: somehow there aren’t enough ppl who fly from or through Chicago to be profitable…
Hi Dan, sorry for the off-topic question, how is award availability at the renaissance tel aviv during the summer? Is there a set price during the summer? Thank you
What about D.C. ,Virginia or Baltimore, now that Trump is the preside
Nice for montrealers but air transat is like a Canadian Spirit. Not sure I would want to fly spirit for 11 hrs
@ABC: Air Transat is a Canadian airline so would be kind of tough 🙂
As for why Montreal instead of other cities in Canada- Toronto is already pretty full with flights from both airlines, Montreal is the next biggest city and next biggest Jewish community, and with their hub there it makes sense to give it a go- hopefully prices end up on par with charter prices. YUL-TLV has been tried before as Dan mentioned so who knows if it will be successful, but I’m glad they’re trying! Any competition to TLV lowers the prices even from other cities, since it increases the number of one-stops available from other cities.
El Al offered flights from Baltimore to Tel Aviv in the early 90s. Was really a technical thing: They used a small US carrier under the El Al name, to JFK. This allowed international check-in at Baltimore, which had very little international traffic. I was told that the Embassy vstaff loved it.
I recall service from and to Baltimore requiring a plane change at JFK and not using ElAl metal.
@ABC:
It hasn’t been tried in 17 years.
They’ll test the waters twice a week and see what happens.
@Dave Weintraub:
@degania:
Heh, thanks!
It is a quandary why there are no non stop flights from Chicago which has over 300,000 Jews. El Al used to go nonstop and then quit.
@Platypus:
It’s coming. Hang in there 🙂
Will Baltimore ever have a chance for direct flights to Tel Aviv?
I would like to see a non stop flight from Memphis International Airport to TLV…
@degania: This is the way ELAL used to do their flights to Miami also. You would fly to JFK and then stay on the “international” side and connect to a chartered type airline. You would arrive in Miami as an international passenger
Why in the world would El Al fly from Baltimore to TLV?
How about from Dulles on United? That would be nice!
@Eric: I was not able to book a BWI-tlv flight for my youngest son’s bar mitzvah in 2000. There weren’t any flights then. We left out of jfk
I think Chicago route would great. I know a lot of people are now connecting on the SFO flight where ORD would be way more convenient.
Many of us are very curious as to why there are no direct flights from the DC/Balt Metro area to Tel Aviv, whether they are National, Dulles or Baltimore.
@MG:
Sure DCA to TLV!! Look at the runway size… haha
I really don’t think any airline would choose the Baltimore area for nonstop flights. There just isn’t a big enough market or demographic presence for any profit in those areas
@Dan: LY or UA?