One of American Airlines’ most exciting new long haul routes is between Dallas and Tel Aviv. The launch of this route has just been delayed once again, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
American’s Israel flight delayed again
In August 2019, American Airlines announced some cool international expansion, arguably the most exciting of which was a new Dallas to Tel Aviv flight. This was supposed to mark American’s return to Israel, as that seemed like a huge gap in the network of the world’s largest airline.
American was initially supposed to launch Dallas to Tel Aviv flights as of September 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic caused American to rethink that timeline. The route was then delayed by over a year, through October 2021, then it was delayed through January 2022, then it was delayed through March 2022, then it was delayed through May 2022, and now it has been delayed yet again.
American’s Dallas to Tel Aviv flight details
American Airlines’ Dallas to Tel Aviv flight is now on sale for travel as of June 4, 2022, representing a further delay of roughly one month. If you were booked on this flight prior to that date, you should have received a schedule change email. The published schedule is as follows:
AA18 Dallas to Tel Aviv departing 8:45PM arriving 6:00PM (+1 day)
AA19 Tel Aviv to Dallas departing 11:00PM arriving 5:00AM (+1 day)
The flight is scheduled to operate 3x weekly, eastbound on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, and westbound on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.
The flight will cover a distance of 6,960 miles, and is blocked at 13hr15min to Israel, and 14hr from Israel. American will use a Boeing 777-200 for the route, featuring 273 seats. This includes 37 business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 212 economy seats.
In this case the delay can’t be blamed on Israel’s borders being shut, as the country did recently largely reopen to tourists, so that’s not a primary motivator here. Rather the main issue seems to be that American has a wide body aircraft shortage, as the carrier’s new Boeing 787s are delayed. In other words, this delay seems to primarily be because American is prioritizing other long haul routes. That suggests to me that future bookings on this route aren’t great.
American’s New York & Miami to Tel Aviv routes
The Dallas to Tel Aviv route was the first route to Israel that American announced, but the carrier ended up launching two new Israel routes before that. Specifically:
- American launched a New York to Tel Aviv route as of May 2021, as part of the new strategic alliance with JetBlue
- American launched a Miami to Tel Aviv route as of June 2021
While the Dallas to Tel Aviv route was announced first, it’s not surprising to see the New York and Miami to Tel Aviv routes launch first. Of the three routes, the Dallas to Tel Aviv route is the most reliant on connecting traffic, so it makes sense that American is holding off the longest on that route.
Bottom line
American Airlines’ Dallas to Tel Aviv flight has been delayed again, and is now expected to launch in June 2022. American has already launched routes from New York and Miami to Tel Aviv, so the Dallas route will be the last one to launch.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see this route delayed even further, though personally I think it’s much more likely that this route will launch in 2022 than the Seattle to Bangalore route.
What do you make of American’s new Dallas to Tel Aviv route? Do you think it will launch in June 2022?
(Tip of the hat to @IshrionA)
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