Update, 8/26/26: Israir CEO Uri Sirkis shared a number of interesting tidbits with Channel 13 news:

• Service will start in September. Initially, Mr. Sirkis said that prices have not been set, but later he said that they will be lower than the competition and that if the competition is charging $8K-$10K for a round-trip business class ticket, he can sell it for $6,500 and do well. Tickets are not yet for sale.
• Israir paid just $85 million for the pair of 16-year-old ex-American A330-200s. Airbus last published a list price of $238.5 million for an A330-200 back in 2018, before they stopped publishing list prices.
• The flight will depart from Tel Aviv at 12:30am. That would mean an arrival into JFK around 5:30am the same day.
• While Israir is known for being a low-cost carrier, this will be a full-service flight. Pivoting from a low-cost mindset and culture has been among the biggest challenges for the airlines. Checked bags and assigned seats will be included in the fare. Blankets and pillows will be available for all passengers. Onboard, there will be meals, drinks, wine, cocktails, and even espresso.
• Channel 13’s video graphic shows that Israir will have 7 weekly flights, which would seem to indicate flights on Shabbos? It would be a surprise to many if there are flights on Shabbos, so this is likely just a typo unless there’s very creative scheduling in play. While Arkia has a foreign crew operating their JFK flights on foreign planes, Israir flights will be operated by an Israeli crew and Israeli owned planes. However, this specific question was not asked to Mr. Sirkis, and we’ll have to wait and see what the schedule looks like. 
• The video goes into detail about the minutiae of the services selected by the CEO, down to how many crumbs the rolls make, whether people eat the potatoes, the color of the cutlery, and the cost of the espresso machine.
• Arkia CEO Oz Berlowitz is grilled about the high prices charged by his airline and says that he welcomes the new competition.
• The AA branding and markings can still be seen on the plane, for example from the economy extra legroom seats’ overhead bins:

• You can see more about this plane’s configuration on this archived SeatGuru page. There are 20 reverse herringbone business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, 21 premium economy seats in a 2-3-2 configuration and a 38″ seat pitch, 50 economy extra legroom seats in a 2-4-2 configuration and a 35″ seat pitch, and 156 economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration with a 31″ or 32″ seat pitch.

Will you fly Israir between Tel Aviv and JFK?

Update, 8/24/26: Israir has received FAA approval to launch Tel Aviv-JFK flights! The previously targeted launch date was October 19th, but I’d expect a sooner launch date for the airline to take advantage of Tishrei peak season holiday traffic.

Barring unforeseen developments, Delta is scheduled to resume JFK-Tel Aviv service on September 6th, and United is scheduled to resume Newark-Tel Aviv service on September 8th, bringing more much-needed competition to the route, which is currently only served by Arkia and El Al.

Along with the Israir launch, that would mean a record 5 carriers operating nonstop flights between NYC and Tel Aviv.

Update, 8/18/26: Israir is still awaiting FAA approval to launch the flight. While the airline was hoping to launch flights last month, it is now targeting October 19th, but it can start sooner if the FAA gives the green light. 

The flight will be operated by 2 former USAirways/American A330-200s purchased by Israir. 4X-BAL and 4X-BAK were delivered to USAirways in March 2010. American retired these planes prematurely during COVID. Those planes had 247 seats consisting of 20 reverse herringbone business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, 21 premium economy seats, 50 economy extra legroom seats, and 156 economy seats. 

We flew this plane type in business class on USAirways from Paris to Philadelphia in December 2012 and on American from Tel Aviv to Philadelphia in March 2015 and very much enjoyed the seats.

Update, 4/23/26: Globes is reporting that Israir expects to launch JFK-Tel Aviv service by the end of July! Economy fares are expected to be around $1,400-$1,500 round-trip, and Israir will sell Premium Economy and Business class seats as well.

With US airlines not planning on resuming Tel Aviv service until at least September, this should provide some much needed capacity in the market!

Update, 7/16/25: Globes is reporting that Israir is looking for an A330 to dry lease to operate the route, which will start in time for Pesach 2026 or earlier.

Arkia wet leases planes for the route, meaning that a foreign carrier staffs the flight with pilots and flight attendants, and Arkia sells the flights and provides minimal staffing with Hebrew speakers onboard.

With a dry lease, Israir would fully staff the plane and could operate during high-tension times, when Arkia was unable to fly nonstop between Israel and the US. 

Globes also reports that Israir lost $14.8 million when it flew scheduled flights between JFK and Tel Aviv from 2006-2008. There will be even more competition this time around, so it remains to be seen if this service will be sustainable.

Update, 7/15/25: The DOT has provided final approval for Israir to resume service between the US and Israel. No objections were received after the DOT gave tentative approval in April. The airline also received a license from Israel to operate the route.

Israir does not have any widebody planes that can fly between the US and Tel Aviv, so similar to Arkia, it will likely locate a wet lease operator to fly the route. That has mostly worked out well for Arkia, though they have had to add a technical stop in Europe several times when tensions were high.

Expect Israir service to launch up to 6 weekly flights between JFK and Tel Aviv in Spring 2026 and for it to create downward pressure on US-Israel airfare. 

United will return to Israel next week and Delta tentatively plans on returning to Israel in September. The only question are, when will American return to Israel and will the route be able to sustain an incredible 6 carriers?  It’s extremely rare to see that level of competition on a route!

Originally posted on 4/21/25:

Until recently, El Al had a virtual monopoly on nonstop flights between the US and Israel that dated back to 10/7/23, except for some periods of time last year when Delta and United tried to compete before pulling out.

Arkia entered the JFK-Tel Aviv market in February and is doing well on the route. Its flights are currently operated by an Iberojet all-economy A330-900neo and they will switch to a GullivAir A330-200 on May 14th featuring lie-flat direct aisle access business class seats and extra legroom seating.

United resumed flying twice daily between Newark and Tel Aviv last month, and Delta resumed its daily flights between JFK and Tel Aviv earlier this month.

And now, the DOT has given tentative approval for Israir to resume flying between JFK and Tel Aviv.

Israir last operated service between the US and Israel in 2008.

As with Arkia, Israir lacks widebody planes, so they will have to contract the service to a wet leasing operator. That will take time to arrange, and there are conflicting reports on when service might launch.

Even if American fails to resume its JFK-Tel Aviv service, that would mean a record 5 airlines will compete on the lucrative nonstop NYC-Tel Aviv route once Israir launches service. If American also resumes service, it would be an incredible six airlines that would compete on the route. There are very few routes in the world with that kind of competition. Hopefully, that will translate into cheaper flights!

For now though, United has yet to resume service between Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington DC to Tel Aviv, Delta has yet to resume Atlanta or Boston to Tel Aviv, and American remains hopelessly on the sidelines. It will take the resumption of those flights to really drive down the cost of nonstop service between the US and the Holy Land.

Are you planning to travel between the US and Israel this year?