Delta Air Lines announced on Wednesday that it has “paused” flights between John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, N.Y., and Tel Aviv through Oct. 31, citing “ongoing conflict in the region.”
“Seats on Delta partner airlines Air France and El Al Israel Airlines remain bookable on delta.com and through Delta reservations when available,” the airline said.
It added that it is “continuously monitoring the evolving security environment and assessing our operations based on security guidance and intelligence reports and will communicate any updates as needed.”
There could be “additional cancellations on a rolling basis,” Delta said. “A travel waiver has been issued for all customers who booked travel to/from Tel Aviv before Oct. 31, 2024.”
The travel waiver covers fare differences and must be used for travel that begins by Dec. 15, per the Delta website.
With United Airlines also having suspended flights until further notice, Delta’s decision to suspend flights until the end of October leaves Israel’s El Al carrier as the only airline offering direct service to and from the United States for the foreseeable future.
Both airlines had just resumed service this spring after suspending flights, like most carriers, in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre. American Airlines has not restarted flights to Tel Aviv since Oct. 7.
The Jewish High Holiday season begins after sundown on Oct. 2 with Rosh Hashanah.
During last year’s holiday season, El Al charged about $1,500 for a roundtrip ticket from Tel Aviv to New York. This year, tickets are being sold for about $2,000, Israel’s Globes business daily reported on Sunday.
Many global airlines, including Lufthansa, Austrian, Iberia and Brussels Airlines, suspended service to Israel late last month amid escalating regional tensions following the killing of Hezbollah terror chief Fuad Shukr in Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps deputy commander, Ali Fadavi, said on Monday that Iran and its terrorist proxies in the region would strike Israel “more severely” than in its unprecedented April 14 attack.
“It is us who will decide the time and place of the revenge. It will definitely take place … at the proper time and in the right place,” he said, per Iran’s official Fars News Agency.
