Among many of the network movements American Airlines made in 2021, the carrier’s return to Israel was one of the special ones. With two routes in operation and a third planned to launch this year, American Airlines has bet on big on the market as it plans a post-crisis long-haul network that leans on the airline’s hub, network, and partnership strengths. To learn more about the airline’s moves in Israel, Simple Flying spoke with Brian Znotins, Vice President of Network and Schedule Planning at American Airlines.
American Airlines in Israel
Before resuming services in 2021, American Airlines last flew to Israel in early 2016, when it pulled out in early January after underperformance in the market. According to data from Cirium, when service ended, American was flying 258-seat Airbus A330-200s to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL). The route was inherited from the merger with US Airways.
After cutting the route, American stopped serving Tel Aviv using its metal and thus no longer offered nonstop service from the US to Israel. Then, in 2019, American Airlines announced a triumphant return to Tel Aviv. The plan was to start flying from the airline’s largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to TLV from September 2020 using a Boeing 787-9.
For obvious reasons, American Airlines did not launch the service as planned in 2020. It did, however, start making some other moves that led to service to Israel. Bolstered by the Northeast Alliance (NEA) with JetBlue, American Airlines announced a new nonstop service from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to TLV in May. Since then, the airline has been operating this route daily using a Boeing 777-200ER.
Then, in June, American Airlines launched a new service from Miami International Airport (MIA) to TLV….