As foreign airlines return to Israel, sky-high airfares show signs of descent
Over the past two years, as Israel has fought wars with Hamas, Iran, and foes on other fronts, travelers to and from Tel Aviv have grown used to expensive plane tickets as foreign airlines suspended service — leaving Israeli carriers with sparse competition.
But with the onset of the ceasefire in Gaza this month, brokered by US President Donald Trump, travel agents say all that is poised to change. An increasing number of foreign airlines that paused service during the war have returned to Ben Gurion Airport or are about to. And for Israeli fliers, the unusually high airfares of the past two years show signs of coming back down to earth as well.
“Trump is like our ambassador of travel, as he is helping us to end the fighting,” said Tali Noy, vice president of marketing and sales at the travel agency, ISSTA. “If the current situation holds, more and more foreign airlines will resume flight services and add frequency, which will in turn increase options and seat capacity and lead to lower prices for Israeli consumers.”
Air Canada became the latest carrier to renew daily flights when it reopened its Toronto-to-Tel Aviv route on October 9, the same day Israel and Hamas signed the ceasefire and hostage-release agreement.
At the end of October, Spanish carrier Iberia, the UK’s British Airways, and Germany’s Eurowings are expected to resume service to Tel Aviv after suspending flights during the war. And almost a decade after it halted flights to Israel in 2016, Scandinavian airline SAS will restart flight operations to the country at the end of the month, with two weekly offerings between Tel Aviv and Copenhagen.
US carrier United Airlines resumed direct flights between Tel Aviv and Newark, near New York City, in July; next month, it will renew its routes from Chicago and Washington, DC, to Ben Gurion and back. Its US rival, Delta, restarted its route between Tel Aviv and New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport on September 1, with seven weekly flights.
“We are already seeing a decrease from last winter’s ticket prices of a good 20 percent, especially to New York and other long-haul destinations, as travelers have more options and can be booked on connecting flights via Europe,” said Mark Feldman, CEO of the Ziontours Jerusalem travel agency.
Noy said that fares for round-trip flights on the Tel Aviv-New York route for this coming summer are selling around $1,200, some 50 percent cheaper than earlier this year. That price, she said, was getting closer to price levels seen........
© The Times of Israel
