Arkia Airlines has announced it will begin flights between Israel and the United States starting February 8th. The carrier will serve New York John F. Kennedy (JFK/KJFK) three times a week with Airbus A330-900neo configured for 388 passengers in single class. It will be the airline’s first route to the Americas.

These services will be conducted on Iberojet aircraft although they will operate with Arkia crews, according to a statement released by the Israeli government. At the time of publication, the JFK – TLV route is confirmed until March 29th, but could be extended for the rest of the year.

The launch of operations to the United States comes after the agreement between Arkia Airlines and TechAir, an Israeli technology company. TechAir is an initiative of the Hi-Tech Center, a forum of leading entrepreneurs, startup founders, investors and venture capital fund managers. As per Arkia’s website, round-trip tickets between Tel Aviv and New York are around $1,550, and approximately $1,100 one-way ticket.

Schedule on the Tel Aviv – New York route · Arkia

TLV – JFK

• IZ 991  Tel Aviv TLV 12:00 · 19:20 JFK New York (Monday and Wednesday)
• IZ 991  Tel Aviv TLV 23:30 · 06:50+1 JFK New York (Saturday)

JFK – TLV

• IZ 992  New York JFK 15:00 · 08:00+1 TLV Tel Aviv (Tuesday and Sunday)
• IZ 992  New York JFK 16:00 · 09:00+1 TLV Tel Aviv (Thursday)

El Al is the only operator in the Israel – United States market at the moment, with flights to Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark and New York JFK from the Israeli capital. In line with our database, the company has 38 weekly services, which it runs on Boeing 787-8 and Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jets configured for 235 and 281 passengers, respectively.

Schedule

• Boston (BOS): 3 weekly · Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner
• Fort Lauderdale (FLL): 2 weekly · Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner
• Los Angeles (LAX): 5 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
• Miami (MIA): 4 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
• Newark (EWR): 10 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
• New York (JFK): 14 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

The U.S. is the only American market offered to/from Tel Aviv.

“This is a historic and significant day for Arkia,” said Arkia CEO Oz Berlowitz. “Launching the direct Tel Aviv-New York route is an important milestone, which shows our commitment to the Israeli public and to finding aviation solutions even in challenging times.”

In addition to TechAir’s participation in the new flights between Tel Aviv and New York, the Israeli government will have an important role in the development of these operations, as well as others that may be added, especially to North America.

The government announced that it has a support package to encourage the growth of local and foreign airlines in the Israel – North America market. According to its plan, the government will cover 50% of the operating losses in case of cancelled flights, and requires airlines to have at least two frequencies per week.

Israel Transportation Minister Miri Regev, said: “Israel will help airlines that choose to operate direct flights to the US, which will lead to real competition. The government will share the cost of compensation for passengers due to flight cancellations, in light of the security situation, to encourage companies to increase the scope of flights.”

Routes and fleet

Arkia Airlines has five aircraft in its fleet, being two 220-seat Airbus A321neo and three Embraer 195 configured for 122 passengers, all in single class. In addition, aircraft from other airlines operate flights for Arkia, through a wet-lease agreement, including Electra Airways’ Airbus A320-214 LZ-EAJ, Flylili’s Airbus A320-232 YR-LIB and Smartwings’ Boeing 737-86N OK-TVS. Until early January, airplanes belonging to other companies, such as Flyyo (A320) and SkyUp Airlines (737 and 738), were operating as well.

14 cities are part of Arkia Airlines’ network of destinations, all of them from/to Tel Aviv International Airport. The main market is Europe with 11 routes, while the remaining three are to Asia. 

Its 15th destination will be New York.

Europe is Tel Aviv’s main market, serving nearly 50 regular non-stop destinations. It is followed by Asia, with almost 20 routes from the Israeli capital, while Africa has four, with Addis Ababa, Cairo, Nairobi and Victoria (Seychelles) being the scheduled services.

Israel

After a ceasefire agreement between Israel, the Gaza government and Hamas, several airlines intend to recommence operations to Israel soon, particularly to Tel Aviv.

AirBaltic, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Iberia, ITA Airways, Lufthansa, Royal Air Maroc, Swiss International Airlines and Wizz Air plan to resume regular flights effective February, and others as of late January, such as Transavia. Air India and Iberia are expected to return in March, while British Airways and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will be back in April.

Regarding flights to the United States, American Airlines has suspended services since the end of 2023, a suspension that will be maintained until at least March 29th, like Delta Air Lines. As for United, it has cancelled flights until further notice.

However, there could be updates from the three major U.S. airlines following the ceasefire in Israel.

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• Hainan returns with Norway’s only connection to China (January 10th, 2025)
• Royal Jordanian returns to India after 10 years (January 17th, 2025)

Cover photo: Edmond_spotteur – JetPhotos (Paris Orly – LFPO – France)