Delta Air Lines announced on Wednesday that it is further extending the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv until September, due to the ongoing war with Iran, effectively canceling summer travel to Israel.
The Atlanta-based carrier said that both its daily flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Tel Aviv and its thrice-weekly service from Atlanta will be paused through Sept. 5. A scheduled restart of service from Boston has been delayed until further notice.
Delta’s chief rival, United Airlines, which has long offered the most flights to Israel of any U.S. carrier, has suspended flights to Tel Aviv from its Newark hub until June 15, with flights to Tel Aviv from Washington, D.C., and Chicago halted until the fall.
The summer months are typically peak season for travel to Israel, with the New York line especially lucrative.
Since the outbreak of the war against Iran on Feb. 28, no international airlines have been flying to Tel Aviv. Only Israeli carriers have been offering limited and restricted service, primarily repatriation flights.
Israel’s flag carrier, EL AL, is providing limited flights from Tel Aviv to New York, Newark, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Paris, Rome and Athens with 50 passengers per plane.
Israel’s wartime restrictions on the country’s airspace are tentatively in place through April 16, though the date could change based on security conditions on the ground.
