Historically, EL AL has been Israel’s only long haul airline, and therefore has been the only carrier from the country flying between Tel Aviv and the United States. Recently, Arkia also launched flights between Tel Aviv and New York, using leased A330s. Now a third Israeli airline plans to add these flights as well.
Israir wants to launch USA flights as of July 2025
Israir has just filed with the United States Department of Transportation (DOT), requesting a foreign air carrier permit to launch flights to the United States. Specifically, as of July 1, 2025, the airline wants to add six weekly flights between Tel Aviv and New York.
This would technically represent a service resumption, as Israir actually operated flights to the US until 2009, at which point the route was suspended due to “market conditions.”
The challenge is that Israir can’t operate these flights with its own aircraft, given that it only has a fleet of eight Airbus A320s, which aren’t capable of operating such a long route. Instead, Israir wants to wet lease Airbus A330-200s to facilitate this service. With a wet lease agreement, Israir would be selling and marketing the flights, while the aircraft and crew would be provided by another operator. It’s not yet known who Israir would partner with for these flights.
I can’t imagine that Israir will have any issues gaining regulatory approval to launch these flights. However, whether or not this service become a reality, including whether Israir is able to secure aircraft leases, remains to be seen.
It’s good to see increased competition to & from Israel
It goes without saying that since October 2023, operating flights to and from Israel has been challenging, given safety concerns. Purely in terms of profitability, this has been great for EL AL, as it’s the only long haul carrier that has consistently been operating, and that’s why EL AL has been reporting record profits.
The demand has of course been there all along. The problem has just been that operating the service consistently and safely hasn’t been easy. Not only is EL AL entirely reliant on the Israeli market to be able to stay in business, but the aircraft at the airline also have special safety features that planes at other airlines don’t have.
With the situation in Israel starting to stabilize, we’re seeing more long haul airlines resume flights to the country. For example, United plans to resume flights as of late March 2025, while Delta plans to resume flights as of early April 2025.
So it’s interesting to see that Arkia is now operating flights as well, and Israir plans to do so soon. Ideally that service would’ve come a bit earlier, when EL AL had a full-on monopoly. However, more competition is still a good thing, especially given that capacity is still significantly scaled back compared to what it was before October 2023.
Since both Arkia and Israir plan to operate this service with leased aircraft, I’m curious if these flights are temporary, or if we maybe eventually see the airlines acquiring aircraft directly, to be able to sustain these flights.
Bottom line
Israir has requested regulatory approval to launch flights between Tel Aviv and New York, using leased wide body jets. The airline hopes to operate the service as of July 2025, with six weekly frequencies. While exactly details remain to be seen, competition really is heating up.
EL AL has had a monopoly for quite some time. Now we’ve seen Arkia resume service, Delta and United will soon resume service, and Israir plans to add flights as well.
What do you make of Israir launching New York flights?
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