United Airlines will resume flights to Israel on Thursday after suspending flights to and from Israel in April following the missile attack from Iran. On Friday, a plane from Delta Airlines will depart from New York to Tel Aviv, returning to Israel after suspending the Israel route after October 7. This will end El Al's exclusive dominance on U.S. routes, likely leading to lower prices.
Delta will operate a daily flight on the Tel Aviv-New York route (JFK Airport). The company's announcement stated that the airline will provide customers with "approximately 4,000 seats per week." United will operate a daily flight on the Tel Aviv-New York route.
Secret Flights founder Yaniv Lenis, said: "The return of United and Delta airlines to Israel is a very positive sign that will lead to lower prices for direct flights to the U.S. Just a few days ago on the Secret Flights website, we published an excellent price of $650 for a United flight to New York. Currently, only the Tel Aviv-New York route returned, but soon the number of flights will increase to additional routes such as San Francisco, Chicago, Washington and Boston. Competition will increase, and we may see more significant price drops.
Competition will increase, and we may see more significant price drops
Hanny Sobol, CEO at Diesenhaus Group, also sounded optimistic and said that "the return of American airlines will increase competition in the market and is likely to lower flight prices. However, it should be noted that this is a consistently expensive destination, so prices will remain relatively high even with the return of foreign airlines. The high prices are also reflected in customer requests for installment payments or the use of non-bank payment platforms."
"Summer flights to the U.S. are already relatively full, so the recommendation is to book now. As we approach the flight dates, prices will only go up. We are still in a period of uncertainty, so it is important to insist on a flexible cancellation policy and not just focus on the price parameter," she added.
Being a flexible traveler
Darren Rozowsky, CEO of the Last Minute website, said that due to increasingly high prices, more and more travelers are choosing to fly to the U.S. with a layover. Athens and Rome have become frequent destinations for connecting flights to New York for a reasonable price. "Overall, this is much cheaper than a direct flight with savings reaching up $500 per traveler," according to Rozowsky.
For example, a flight from Tel Aviv to Rome with El Al in August costs $340, and a connecting flight from Rome to New York with Norwegian Atlantic costs $650. In total - $990. These are round-trip flights, with at least four hours of layover in Italy. The cheapest direct flight on the dates we checked, between August 5 and 12, costs $1,410 with Delta Airlines.