Arkia and Israir have received permission to operate flights to the United States, it was announced last night.

The move, which is to be implemented in the coming weeks, is intended to reduce the prices of flights to the United States. After many foreign companies canceled all their flights and El Al remained the only company flying on the route from Israel to destinations in the United States, there was a huge shortage of tickets which led to exorbitant prices. The national carrier El Al now has a monopoly status on the route.

Many people are finding it much cheaper to fly to Rhodes or Cyprus and then fly from there to the US - but this adds time to the journey, and complications if there are delays or issues with luggage.

According to the reports, the two companies will lease planes from Europe and operate ten weekly flights, with foreign crews. The first flights would start summer 2025.

Earlier this month, a group of 15 major foreign carriers submitted a request to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee to make temporary amendments to the 2012 Aviation Services Law that governs current compensation to passengers if a flight is delayed or canceled. Many foreign airlines have been grappling with a multitude of class actions and small claims from passengers who are suing for their entitlement to compensation as stipulated in the law.

The group of foreign airlines, including US and European carriers, is seeking temporary amendments to the aviation law in the event of flight cancellations that would limit the cost of the provision of alternative flights relative to the price of the original flight ticket sold to the passenger.

The Economic Committee held a discussion yesterday on this request to amend the law.

Israir and Arkia still need to overcome a few operational challenges to make the transatlantic route feasible. The launch of flights to the US hinges on the their need to fulfill certain conditions by the Civil Aviation Authority and obtain regulatory approvals from US aviation authorities. To operate the long-haul service to the US, they would also need to find an operator or a partner to wet-lease wide-body aircraft and flight crews, which they currently don’t have.

The crews would also need to stay over in the US and in Israel. One of the main obstacles for foreign carriers to resume their services to Israel is that their crews refuse to stay overnight in Tel Aviv due to the heightened security situation.

~ American Airlines recently extended the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv from March 2025 until September 2025.
~ Delta Airlines canceled their routes to Israel until April next year joining an array of foreign airlines that have recently extended their flight suspensions.
~ United Airlines has suspended its flights to Tel Aviv for the foreseeable future due to security concerns and plans to resume them when it is safe for its customers and crew.

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