In October 2023, we saw most international airlines discontinue flights to Israel over safety concerns, following the Hamas terror attacks, and subsequent conflict. Ever since, we’ve seen foreign airlines take an “on again, off again” approach to service, based on the constantly evolving security situation. They want to fly to Tel Aviv, given that it’s a lucrative market, but they also have to take precautions.
Along those lines, Delta has just announced plans to relaunch service to Israel, after the latest round of suspensions, which happened nearly three months ago.
Delta resuming daily New York to Tel Aviv route
As of Monday, September 1, 2025, Delta is planning on resuming daily flights between New York (JFK) and Tel Aviv (TLV). The route will operate with the following schedule:
DL234 New York to Tel Aviv departing 3:45PM arriving 9:35AM (+1 day)
DL235 Tel Aviv to New York departing 11:50AM arriving 5:05PM
The 5,677-mile flight is blocked at 10hr50min eastbound and 12hr15min westbound. Delta will use an Airbus A330-900neo for the service, featuring 281 seats, including 29 business class seats, 28 premium economy seats, 56 extra legroom economy seats, and 168 economy seats.
For context, Delta most recently suspended service to Tel Aviv as of June 12, 2025, meaning that this suspension will have lasted for nearly three months.
Delta claims that the decision to resume Israel flights “follows a comprehensive security review, conducted in close coordination with government and private-sector partners,” and “the airline continues to prioritize the safety of its customers and crews and has implemented additional precautions for operations to and from Tel Aviv.”
Interestingly, this time around Delta waited a lot longer than United to resume flights to Israel. United most recently resumed flights to Israel as of July 21, 2025, so the airline has a roughly six week head start on Delta. I suspect Delta either just didn’t have any spare aircraft in the peak of summer, or just didn’t want to take the risk of reopening bookings, only to suspend the service again.
Only time will tell how long the service lasts this time around, before there’s the next scare.
Let’s see how the Delta & EL AL partnership evolves
With Delta resuming flights to Israel, I can’t help but point out an interesting development we’ve seen in the past couple of years. In June 2023, Delta and EL AL announced a new strategic partnership. Of course the timing of that wasn’t great, since it was supposed to launch in late 2023, around the same time that Delta pulled out of Israel the first time.
As we see more airlines returning to Israel again, I’m very curious to see what this partnership looks like in practice, and how Delta evolves its Israel route network in light of this. Historically, Delta has been heavily focused on joint venture partners and airlines that it invests in, so I think it’s almost a sure bet that Delta plans to eventually buy a stake in EL AL.
However, I suspect Delta is waiting some time to invest, given that EL AL’s valuation is at an all-time high, as the conflict has been good for the carrier’s business. EL AL is as profitable as ever, as the only airline that has been continuously flying to Israel, so fares have been through the roof.
Bottom line
As of September 1, 2025, Delta is resuming daily flights between New York and Tel Aviv. Most recently, Delta suspended Israel flights as of June 12, 2025. United returned to Israel as of July 21, 2025, so this is the longest gap we’ve seen between the two airlines resuming service. Anyway, it remains to be seen how long it is until the service is next suspended….
What do you make of Delta resuming flights to Israel?
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