Israir and Arkia gear up to challenge El Al’s monopoly on flights to North America
Israel’s smaller airlines will need to lease wide-bodied aircraft and bring in crews for transatlantic flights; also seeking changes to law on compensation for canceled flights
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel.
Israir and Arkia are in preliminary talks to launch flights to North America as flagship carrier El Al maintains a monopoly status on the route and US carriers are shunning Israel, which is leading to a fierce shortage of seats and exorbitant airfares.
“We are in talks with Israir and Arkia and are working on this matter so that El Al will not be the sole carrier flying to North America,” a spokeswoman for the Transportation Ministry told The Times of Israel.
Since war broke out with the Hamas terror group following the October 7 onslaught on southern Israeli communities last year, foreign airlines have repeatedly canceled and resumed their flights to and from Israel. In recent months, US airlines completely stopped flying to Israel amid heightened fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and as tensions rise in the Middle East.
That has left El Al as the only airline flying from Tel Aviv on direct routes to North America in recent months, only canceling flights when Ben Gurion Airport or Israeli airspace closes. The lack of competition has led to a severe shortage of seat availability while driving up ticket prices.
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.
“Under the leadership of Transportation Minister Miri Regev, and with the Civil Aviation Authority and assistance of the Foreign Affairs, we are working to obtain the approvals from the US federal government for the flights and are promoting additional initiatives to increase the number of flights to North America,” the Transportation Ministry said in e-mailed comments.
In addition, Israir and Arkia are awaiting a decision on whether the government will make changes to the law requiring them to compensate passengers for canceled flights during the war, which would reduce the risk and cost of operating routes to the US.
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 regulation for canceled flights. 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.
American Airlines recently extended the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv from March 2025 until September as Israel escalated its response to Hezbollah’s near-daily rocket and drone attacks, including on central Israel, and came under the second attack from Iran. US carrier 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.
The frustration about the shortage of flight tickets coupled with sky-high air fares, has prompted a group of tech entrepreneurs and investors to advance an initiative to operate a seasonal airline with leased planes and crews to bolster the route between Tel Aviv and New York. It is slated to start running in January through at least March. The dire travel situation is causing business disruptions to entrepreneurs and executives who are not able to meet their investors and clients in the US.
