Israeli travelers again face astronomical air fares for peak summer season
Most European and US airlines are still avoiding Israel after the Iran ceasefire; with few flights available, Israelis forced to buy expensive tickets from local carriers
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel
With the war with Iran seemingly over, Israel reopened its airspace last week, days before the school summer holidays begin and the peak travel season takes off.
However, with only few foreign airlines so far restarting their services to Tel Aviv and Israeli carriers struggling to fill the vacuum, the supply of seats for the high summer season is running out quickly. This is pushing up fares to new records, especially for vacationers who haven’t booked yet or who had their previously planned flights canceled.
“As expensive and as shocking as ticket prices were last summer, we have hit new record highs to destinations such as New York and Los Angeles or London or Rome. Prices are at least 10 to 15 percent higher than they were last year,” Mark Feldman, CEO of the Ziontours Jerusalem travel agency, told The Times of Israel. “Since there is little competition to Israeli airlines, tickets to Rome in August are selling for $950. Last year they were selling for around $800 or $850 [on those airlines], and two years ago for $500.”
“People are buying the tickets and are paying the price because they can’t wait for foreign airlines, especially the low-cost carriers, to come back,” said Feldman.
The recently implemented ceasefire between Israel and Iran has prompted mostly smaller foreign airlines, mainly those flying from Tel Aviv to nearby destinations in Greece and Cyprus and those connecting Israeli travelers to Eastern Europe and the Emirates, to announce a gradual resumption of flight services to and from Israel. French carrier Air France is the only major Western European airline that has so far announced a relaunch of flights, on its route between Paris and Tel Aviv, starting July 7.
As a result, Israeli airlines El Al, Arkia and Israir are currently the main carriers operating direct flights to many major cities in Europe and the US.
“Hopefully, it will stay quiet in our region, and we will see more and more foreign airlines coming back, but in case they don’t come back or if they come back with an extremely limited capacity, then it’s going to be a very tough summer for travel because there is limited capacity of the Israeli airlines that are operating,” said Yaneev Lanis, founder of online booking site Secret Flights.
“A lot of their seats are already sold, and after the Iran war, more Israelis are prioritizing purchasing with Israeli airlines because of their reliability [in case of further conflict], even if it costs them more,” he added.
“Prices are rising, and eventually everything is going to be sold out — so it won’t even be a matter of price,” Lanis cautioned.
Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday returned to full operation after Israeli airspace was largely closed during the previous 12 days of conflict with Iran, which left an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 Israelis stranded abroad.
In the wake of the Israeli strikes on Iran that began June 13 and barrages of ballistic missiles directed at Israel, most major European and US airlines either stopped their flights or extended the suspension of already frozen routes through July or August — some until September or October.
Even before the Iran war, many foreign carriers had not resumed flight operations to Israel they had canceled after a Houthi missile hit within the territory of Ben Gurion Airport at the beginning of May. The flood of flight cancellations by European and global airlines at the time left thousands of Israelis scrambling to find new flights or make alternative travel plans at a far higher cost.
“Foreign airlines will only come back if there’s an economic incentive for them to do so and there is enough business from the Israeli market,” said Feldman.
“Because nothing has changed in terms of incoming tourism as Israel is still at war in Gaza, it’s hard, as we go into the summer season, to see a rationale for many European and US airlines to return. If they put their planes on routes that are more profitable and certainly more stable, I will not be surprised.”
Emirati carrier Flydubai was the first foreign airline to resume flight operations to Israel on Wednesday, following the ceasefire agreement with Iran. Cypriot airline TUS Airways, Cyprus Airways, Greek airline Blue Bird Airways and Chinese carrier Hainan restarted services to Tel Aviv on Thursday. TUS Airways operates flights from Tel Aviv to Athens, Larnaca, and other destinations. Blue Bird Airways flies from Tel Aviv to Larnaca, Athens, and Sofia. In addition, Romanian airline Tarom also renewed its Tel Aviv-Bucharest route last week.
Among the carriers resuming their flight routes to and from Tel Aviv over the weekend were Azerbaijan Airlines with direct flights to Baku; Etihad Airways; and Ethiopian Airlines. Uzbekistan Airways is expected to restart direct flights between Tel Aviv and Tashkent on July 1.
Spanish airline Air Europa has announced that flights to and from Tel Aviv will resume earlier than initially planned, on July 14 instead of July 31.
Meanwhile, the Lufthansa Group suspended its Tel Aviv route until July 31, while British Airways and low-cost carriers Ryanair and easyJet have canceled their Israel operations through October 25. US carrier United Airlines has suspended services on the Tel Aviv-New York route through August 1, and rival Delta through August 31.
“Foreign airlines are thinking twice about coming back, not because of lawsuits or paying compensation to passengers whose flights were canceled, but because of stability, as every time in recent months, they’ve planned to come back, operations started to pick up, and then there was a security situation in the region — first the missile in Ben Gurion Airport at the beginning of May, and shortly after, the war with Iran,” said Lanis.
Ophir Tours chief marketing officer Neta Gafni said that for the summer, nearby destinations in Cyprus and Greece remained the top destinations of choice, as a group of airlines will be operating flights from Tel Aviv, and prices, though still high, are less expensive than flying to London, Paris, Bangkok and New York.
“If there is a deterioration in the security situation causing aviation disruptions, there are more options to fly back from Greece and Cyprus, including with Israeli airlines, which have continued to fly during wartime, and if travelers get stuck, hotel stays are cheaper than in Paris or London,” said Gafni. “Families with children especially prefer to go safe this summer.
“We also see a lot of bookings for vacations in Israel, mainly to Eilat or the Dead Sea,” she added.
Roundtrip fares to Cyprus in the peak summer months of July and August range from around $300 to $500 without luggage, according to Gafni. To Greece, flight ticket prices sans luggage over the same period start at around $400 and go up to $600 or $700. Traveling with Air France to Paris at the beginning of August will cost around $770 for a roundtrip ticket, and over $800 with El Al. Roundtrip fares to London are selling for as much as $1,200 during the peak summer months.
With no competition on direct flights from Tel Aviv to New York, fares on the route operated by local carriers El Al and Arkia during the summer have gone through the roof.
In early July, roundtrip fares with El Al in economy class stand at around $1,530 and are increasing to $2,666 at the end of the month. With Arkia prices range from $1,750 to $2,500. In August, El Al economy class flight tickets are almost sold out, leaving travelers with the option to pay for premium class tickets with fares ranging from $3,650 to $4,060. With Arkia, roundtrip fares start at $1,450 for the few dates that are still available in August and go for as much as $3,400 toward the end of that month.
“Prices are incredibly high, and they will stay high all summer,” said Feldman. “We just sold a one-way ticket from Tel Aviv to Larnaca for $498.”
The Times of Israel Community.