Emirates could soon fly between the U.S. and Israel, as well as between Israel and Bangkok.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently visited the UAE. Israel sent an Iron Dome system and troops to the UAE to protect that country from attacks by Iran. And they’ve had relations since the Abraham Accords in 2020.
- Emirates could fly Dubai – Tel Aviv – New York under the existing U.S. – U.A.E. Open Skies Treaty.
- Israel is reportedly offering them ‘seventh freedom’ flights from Tel Aviv to New York without a continuation to and from Dubai. This would require U.S. approval, as it’s not provided for in the existing treaty.
- FlyDubai is also being offered subsidies to operate from Eilat, Israel – presumably similar to what was supposed to be available to Wizz Air to operate.
Fifth freedom flights like Dubai – Tel Aviv – New York are common. Emirates currently operates Newark – Athens – Dubai, New York JFK – Milan – Dubai, and many others. Seventh freedom flights – between two countries that do not involve an intermediate stop or touch an airline’s home country – are not common.
Norwegian has operated a number of U.S. – Europe flights, though this is enabled because Norwegian’s flights are enabled by the broader E.U. agreement with the U.S. Actual seventh freedom flying is rare, but Rwandair flies several routes out of Benin, SCAT flies Sanya – Prague, and IinterCaribbean flies Barbados-Guyana and other flights that don’t touch Turks & Caicos.
The politics of Emirates competing on the New York – Tel Aviv route would be fascinating. El Al (which partners with Delta) and Arkia will object locally.
Delta may want to object, though they’re now partnered with state-subsidized Riyadh Air so subsidy complaints will ring hallow. United and Emirates partner but this service would compete directly with United’s Newark – Tel Aviv. American would likely object, but they haven’t served Israel since October 7th, 2023 and have suspended service until (at least) next year. Their current business certainly doesn’t depend on not having to compete on flights to Israel.
Part of me wonders, though, whether this is something Emirates would actually do – or whether it’s being floated for political reasons in advance of Israeli legislative elections scheduled for October 27.
(HT: Dan’s Deals)
US airlines should leave the route to others. They can’t reliably operate the route because of all the unrest in the Middle East. Better off operating routes that can be consistently operated year round without major disruption.
@RC, they wouldn’t be flying it if it didn’t make them money, despite the disruptions.
With G-d’s help, the disruptions should stop soon.
El Al may be the worst long haul carrier, so I’d be thrilled to see this happen. Not that I ever fly to Israel
@Gary: “Riyadh Air so subsidy complaints will ring hallow.”
In Saudi Arabia, that is the best way to ring.
Delta doesn’t fly to Israel, and they don’t want to fly there — looking for any excuse to postpone re-start of the service. So, I say — let those who can do it. I will welcome any new service from US to Israel. Maybe greedy US airlines will change their mind.
If they can actually pull-off this 7th-freedom routing, that’d be wild.
I wish Thai Airways would just fly an A350 nonstop JFK-BKK. If SQ can go the extra 1-2 hours on SQ21,22,23,24, I’d think the aircraft can handle it. All they’d need to do is gift #47 a golden idol and the approvals would be granted. Just sayin’…
This has about a 0.001% chance of happening.
@VK: How would you know that if you never flew them? First of all, they are much improved. Second of all, there are a ton of 3rd world airlines, ELAL was always miles ahead of them.
Both Etihad and Emirates fly to Dubai from their hubs. But a third freedom route? I don’t see that happening minus bug subsidies .
I wouldn’t go into the complex geopolitics of the UAE, but suffice to say that public opinion may differ from the ruler(s) in many areas. Of course, the Sheikhs and Emirs don’t necessarily have to follow public opinion …
I mean both Emirates and Etihad fly to Tel Aviv from their hubs.
This would not only be greatly beneficial to flyers by challenging El Al’s monopoly but it would also be poetic and lovely.
There is a ton of competition NYC-MXP/ATH and they could no doubt get much higher fares NYC-TLV which has essentially one carrier. TLV was at one time UA’s highest yielding foreign destination and there’s a lot of low lying fruit there for the grabbing.
Relatedly, EK’s mileage redemption levels have suddenly become much more reasonable . . . although their taxes and fees are as bad as ever.
Grennady,
Delta and United have both flown to Israel when they can but their service has been repeatedly interrupted. I suspect their insurance companies have a big say in where they can and cannot fly.
UA also has dropped Dubai while AA has dropped Doha (or suspended for now)
EK is a most excellent airline. I’ve flown EK for many years. Even the worst steerage section flight on EK was better than the average UA flight that I’ve occasionally had to take. I would be all for EK to do this route.
Of course no discussion of EK and politics is complete without a footnote to EK pulling its investment out of UL…after that Sri Lankan government official entourage bumped paying passengers………
Tim
Delta has a peerless partner in Saudia. A mere 500K points get you to visit Riyadh (or Jeddah) in the summer. The biggest bargain since the US bought Alaska Air .. er Alaska.
I suspect that part of this is about security. A flight from Dubai will have Dubai security and that may be suspect with more attempts to bypass it.