Last August American Airlines announced plans to fly from Dallas Fort Worth to Tel Aviv starting October 2020. They’ve put that off to their Winter 2021 schedule.
With the announcement of their new partnership with JetBlue they unveiled plans to fly New York JFK – Tel Aviv.
There’s been speculation that this meant moving the DFW flight to New York and operating just a single Tel Aviv service. But after Thursday’s American Airlines earnings call, Senior Vice President Vasu Raja told employees that’s not the case.
Let me talk about DFW and JFK…first of all we will not be moving DFW – Tel Aviv to JFK – Tel Aviv. We will have two Tel Aviv flights. Both DFW and JFK will start next year.
Israeli carrier El Al’s future is in doubt, and United Airlines is already moving to capitalize on that – adding Chicago – Tel Aviv to their Newark and San Francisco and other routes.
American has the biggest subsidies ever for a flight by the state of Israel for its Dallas service. This opens up the evangelical market. Meanwhile a partnership with JetBlue gives the two airlines combined enough of a base of New York customers to support the flight, plus customers who would connect (but not backwards through Dallas), to make a flight work – at least that’s the expectation.
Before US Airways management took over at the airline, US Airways flew Philadelphia – Tel Aviv. This was a money-loser that continued longer than it might have with management distracted by the merger. American had a partnership with El Al, and there was often speculation of starting Miami service. Tel Aviv represents a strong tech market in addition to leisure travel, and before the pandemic El Al had been expanding its own U.S. footprint rapidly.
Somehow I have a feeling El Al will be back. I don’t see Israel without a flag carrier. When they come back, it will be interesting to see how long AA holds on to that route.
@Eric +1
Eric – I agree. Given how politically isolated Israel is, they can’t count on foreign airlines to maintain transport links.
Your comments are misleading and apparently politically motivated or just plain stupid and naive. The PHL TLV route made lots of money on cargo alone, but AA didn’t want to pay the $20 million it owed to Israeli workers fron when TWA snuck off in the middle of the night. Why do think United chose to keep it’s EWR TLV route as one of only 4 international routes during early Covid 19? Go ahead censor the truth.
Nobody really wants to fly El Al business class and they have rarely had strong alliances or reciprocal mileage programs. AA is smart to move into this space though one has to question whether DFW is the best terminus given the lack of O/D traffic. LAX would have been a better choice or even MIA.
The more interesting story is the huge # of award seats on UA nonstops to TLV as we move into summer 2021. A rare opportunity that cannot last (assuming COVID is vanquished).
@Kachnik – if the flight were profitable, and a $20mm judgment were really going to be enforced, AA would have paid it. They aren’t foregoing big profits for a small judgment.
@Eric +1 (or should it be +2 since @Christian is +1?!?! )
Absolutely do NOT see Israel forgoing its own flag airline & depending on foreign airlines to connect it with the world.
Regarding AA’s recently announced code-share with JetBlue:
These 2 airlines really owe it to themselves to rethink forcing their passengers to rely on the JFK AirTrain, which requires exiting their respective terminals 5 & 8, a VERY, VERY, VERY LOOOOONNNNG WALK to/from JetBlue’s Terminal 5 to/from the AirTrain station (it’s NOT as long as the schlep to/from Delta’s B34-35 & higher gates at JFK Terminal 4, but that walk to/from the AirTrain station for T5 is still quite the hike – plus there’s also a series of escalators/elevators/stairs at both ends that have to be taken, which with carry-on bags, young children and/or pets to account for, hardly makes connecting between terminals “seamless”. In fact, in some ways, it’s almost as if one is making a “double connection” at 2 different airports the hassle/nuisance factor is so high for any JFK connections that requires taking the AirTrain for what otherwise better describes an old school “interline” connection than a “seamless” code-share – even if one’s checked baggage can be checked all the way thru to the final destination (for the outbound/international departures from JFK, that is, since most inbound international arrivals will still require clearing customs & immigration anyway before re-dropping bags for onward domestic connections), or they can still obtain advanced seat seats, boarding passes & earn/burn miles/points reciprocity is possible as part of their proposed agreement.
For if anyone has taken, or has out of town family/friends who seldom use JFK Airport and are unfamiliar with its six different terminals (1, 2, 4, 5, 7 & 8) and how to connect between them, then chances are they already know how unpleasant, not to mention time consuming, any connection that requires taking the AirTrain is.
And that’s before discussing clearing security to get airside at the other airline’s terminal…
So, memo to AA & JetBlue:
Do some dry runs connecting between either of your respective JFK Terminals via AirTrain.
Then compare that against the shuttle bus Delta uses to reach the RJ gates at the far, far, far away and distant end (it seems like a never ending journey when walking those gates are so far away!) of its T4 B pier from Gate B20 at the head-house just after clearing security there (since T2 is closed due to Covid19 & mock connection runs between T2 & T4 cannot be done at the moment) – and how much easier, or dare I say, perhaps even “semi/almost-seamless” that bus is versus a walk that’s under the same roof, let alone anything that requires taking the AirTrain to change terminals for connecting flights (which truly is awful & best avoided at all costs!).
Just sayin’ – since we’re discussing AA’s big plans hoping to make itself relevant again in NYC!
“Before US Airways management took over at the airline, US Airways flew Philadelphia – Tel Aviv.”
Huh?
Israel is a big pharmaceutical hub. So the cargo from that alone can sustain two flights
@Howard Miller Thanks for pointing out what is also a pet peeve of mine. The distance between Jet Blue gates and the Air Train is absolutely absurd. They need a shuttle to get to the shuttle. I can’t believe how little attention this problem gets.
I love Jet Blue, but loathe the verrrrrry long trip from the gate to Air Train (which is the only decent way to get from JFK into the City at most times of day).