Israel said to ask diplomats to reverse American Airlines pull-out

The Transportation Ministry is reportedly hoping Israeli diplomats can persuade American Airlines to reconsider its decision to halt service to Israel.

Citing financial considerations, American announced late last week that it was canceling its Philadelphia-Tel Aviv route.

Transportation Ministry Director-General Uzi Itzhaki reached out to his Foreign Ministry counterpart Dore Gold in hopes that a diplomatic push would persuade the US carrier from not to discontinue its only flight to Tel Aviv, Haaretz reported Tuesday.

Itzhaki said his concern over the canceled route was driven by a desire to avoid “harm to the consumer,” and asserted the move would would “impair the level of service and increase ticket prices” for passengers.

He said fares offered by American Airlines for the Philadelphia to Tel Aviv route were less expensive than other carriers.

According to the report, officials in the Foreign Ministry said that since the carrier wasn’t state-owned, an intervention on a diplomatic level may prove ineffective, but agreed to look into the issue.

Since American made the announcement last week, rumors have circulated in Israeli media that the decision was driven by political factors. However, the carrier has maintained that the decision to cancel its lone flight to Israel was based solely on financial considerations.

On Tuesday, the airline said the route lost the company $20 million in 2014, and that it had not made an annual profit since it started in 2009.

The Israeli business journal TheMarker on Sunday cited industry insiders who said the route was profitable and the US airline was simply trying to bolster its ties with its Arab counterparts. American Airlines is part of the OneWorld alliance of carriers, which means it shares flights and other services with Arab carriers such as Royal Jordanian and Qatar Airways.

Since merging with US Airways last year, American Airlines had operated Tel Aviv to Philadelphia flights on a daily basis.

For the five previous years, daily Tel Aviv to Philadelphia flights were carried out by US Airways. All 19 American Airlines employees based in Israel are expected to lose their jobs after the company ends operations in the country.

The last American Airlines flight to Israel is scheduled for January 4, from Philadelphia to Tel Aviv, and the return flight, scheduled for January 5, will be the company’s last from the country, Ynet reported last week.

Some 95,000 passengers have flown on American Airlines’ Philadelphia-Tel Aviv flights since the beginning of 2015, and more than 70% of them used the route to connect to other destinations.

Israel has not officially commented on the cancellation of the route.

JTA contributed to this report.