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.
United recently resumed one route to Israel, and now the airline has announced plans to resume two additional routes, after a suspension of around two years.
United currently flies from Newark to Tel Aviv
For context, since July 21, 2025, United has been operating twice daily nonstop flights between Newark (EWR) and Tel Aviv (TLV). The flights operate with the following schedule:
UA84 Newark to Tel Aviv departing 3:30PM arriving 8:55AM (+1 day)
UA85 Tel Aviv to Newark departing 11:00AM arriving 3:45PM
UA90 Newark to Tel Aviv departing 10:50PM arriving 4:20PM (+1 day)
UA91 Tel Aviv to Newark departing 11:25PM arriving 4:10AM (+1 day)
Both frequencies are operated by Boeing 787-10s, featuring 318 seats, configured with 44 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 253 economy seats. The 5,685-mile flight is blocked at around 11 hours eastbound and around 12 hours westbound.
This is the only route to Israel that United has flown since October 2023, as the route has been operated whenever possible, but has also repeatedly been suspended.
United plans Chicago & Washington to Tel Aviv flights
For the first time since October 2023, United has announced plans to resume two additional routes to Tel Aviv:
- As of November 1, 2025, the airline will fly 4x weekly from Chicago (ORD)
- As of November 2, 2025, the airline will fly 3x weekly from Washington (IAD)
As Patrick Quayle, United’s SVP of Global Network Planing and Alliances, describes this, “the resumption of these flights underscores United’s longstanding commitment to Tel Aviv.” United emphasizes how service to Tel Aviv always follows a detailed assessment of operational, safety, and security considerations in the region.
United has flown more to Israel than any other US airline, and will continue to do so. At this point, the only route that hasn’t been resumed is out of San Francisco (SFO). Delta currently exclusively flies to Tel Aviv out of New York (JFK), though has the benefit of having a partnership with EL AL.
The timing for United resuming more Israel flights makes perfect sense, given that November starts to be the really quiet season for wide body flying for US carriers. We’ll see if these flights actually operate, since there hasn’t exactly consistently been peace in the region.
Bottom line
In late July 2025, United resumed flights to Israel, with its Newark to Tel Aviv flight. Now the airline has announced that as of early November 2025, it’ll resume flights from Chicago and Washington to Tel Aviv. This will be the first time since October 2023 that United operates multiple routes to Tel Aviv, so that just leaves the San Francisco service as not having resumed.
Of course this all assumes that we don’t see the conflict escalate in a way that impacts the ability of US carriers to fly to Israel, as we’ve seen several times before.
What do you make of United expanding Israel flights?
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