Photo: shutterstock The Current Situation in Air Travel
These days are among the best for foreign aviation to and from Israel. In recent weeks, Aegean Airlines from Greece and United Airlines from the United States have returned to Israel with two daily flights. Flydubai expanded its Tel Aviv-Dubai connection to nine daily flights, and this week, we welcomed LOT, Bulgaria Air, Centrum Air, and now Lufthansa Group is gradually returning to us.
Over the next month, we expect a significant and extensive return of more airlines. The Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air, operating from Terminal 1, is gradually returning. Brussels Airlines from the Lufthansa Group will join the returning airlines, as will Air Seychelles. Assuming no further changes, Delta Air Lines is expected to resume its New York route at the end of the month.
However, alongside the welcomed return of many airlines, there are many that have disappeared from Ben Gurion Airport, some since the war began in October 2023, and have not returned since. This is a long list of airlines, some of which have not announced a return date. So here are the airlines we expect and hope to see returning to us soon.
The world's largest airline operated a regular route between New York JFK and Ben Gurion Airport, usually a daily flight, until October 2023. The airline suspended the route at the start of the war and, after several announcements of attempts to resume the route, announced it would not return to Israel until further notice.
Photo: ShutterstockAmerican Airlines' conduct is different and even somewhat strange compared to competing airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. United resumed its flights to Israel in July, a month after Operation "Chariots of Fire." Assuming no last-minute changes, Delta is expected to return at the end of this month. In contrast, American Airlines, with an even larger fleet, has not set a return date for Ben Gurion Airport.
One of the important airlines at Ben Gurion Airport, in its absence, there are no direct flights between Israel and Canada since El Al's route was completely canceled in the past. The company states they are making great efforts to resume the flights that stopped with the start of the war in October 2023, returned to Israel, and then were canceled again. In a conversation with PassportNews, they said: "We will resume operations when conditions allow".
Photo: AIR CANADACurrently, the suspension of flights has been extended until October 9, 2025, let's hope it will indeed be so.
The British airline of Richard Branson, operating under the leadership of Israeli CEO Shai Weiss, announced numerous attempts over a year and a half to resume the route between Tel Aviv and London. But at the end of April, Virgin dropped a bombshell: the route to Tel Aviv - canceled.
Virgin Atlantic. Photo: ShutterstockThe company explained that "after a thorough review, the company decided to discontinue its direct flights on the Heathrow-Tel Aviv route." The company apologized, but as we've learned before, even if the route is canceled until further notice, there may be surprises in the future - and not just because of the Israeli management (although that doesn't hurt).
One of the great and currently absent airlines from Ben Gurion is the Dutch Royal Airlines known as KLM. The company stopped its flights following Operation "Chariots of Fire," shortly after resuming them, and simply drove them crazy.
Photo: SHUTTERSTOCKDespite the return of its partner, Air France, currently, there's no scheduled return date for KLM. However, due to proximity and ease of route resumption, unlike airlines operating longer flights, one can expect some movement on the subject after the summer season, and if the situation in our region allows, KLM will return.
The Turkish aviation giant, once the most active foreign company at Ben Gurion Airport, stopped its flights to Israel in October 2023 and hasn't resumed them. Since then, there has been a worsening deterioration in relations between Israel and Turkey due to the regional war.
Photo: ShutterstockAlthough not directly expressed on the matter, President Erdogan is very close to the airline's management, holding one of the largest networks in the world and, as mentioned, served many Israelis in the past with connect flights to almost anywhere on earth.
Given the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, even though flight schedules (slots) were maintained for a while by the Turkish company, it doesn't seem likely it will return to Ben Gurion Airport in the near future. Incidentally, smaller Pegasus, which flew to Istanbul, Antalya, and other destinations between Tel Aviv and Turkey, also will not return in the near future.
Until the outbreak of the war in October 2023, the Portuguese airline TAP operated well at Ben Gurion Airport, even expanding to a daily flight between Lisbon and Tel Aviv.
TAP Air Portugal. Photo: shutterstockMany Israelis also chose to fly with the company on connecting flights to many destinations in North and South America. However, since the war, the company has simply disappeared from the radar, and it is unclear if and when it will return to Israel.
Another prestigious company that it is unfortunate not to see at Ben Gurion is the Hong Kong airline. While absent from Israel's flight schedule, the company continues to expand and glamor its aircraft in some of the world's most lucrative business classes.
Cathay Pacific. Photo: ShutterstockWe are already looking forward to seeing the company's flagship planes, Airbus A350, return to us.
According to the latest information, it is expected to return at the end of October; let's hope that will indeed be the case.
Remember the Bahraini airline? We might have forgotten because it has also been absent since the start of the war. Considered particularly prominent in the Persian Gulf, the company operated flights between Tel Aviv and Manama, the capital of Bahrain, until October 2023, and has not returned since, nor given a specific return date. One can assume that with the return of Emirates, expected (but not certain) at the end of March 2026, the Bahraini company will also return to Israel.
Photo: Shutterstock
Emirates. Photo: EMIRATESIncidentally, alongside Emirates, which indeed gave a return date to Israel, many other companies, as we publish daily on PassportNews, have given return dates, some distant ones, for returning to Israel. One of them is Ryanair, which, contrary to its significant competitor Wizz Air, is supposed to return by the end of October 2025. The company's CEO, Michael O'Leary, even went as far as saying that "he's fed up with the situation in the area."
Ryanair. Photo: ShutterstockHowever, given the opening of Terminal 1 and the return of Wizz Air, don't be surprised if the company becomes envious of passenger numbers and advances its return to Israel.
Now it remains only to hope that the security situation in the area improves, leading to the return of these airlines that announced they would not return "until further notice", as well as the return of those who have set return dates.
For more about airlines renewing or continuing to suspend their flights to and from Israel, you can read in the special ongoing article on PassportNews