Deutsche Bank analysts noted that the carrier had struck all its scheduled flights to Tel Aviv
Middle East tensions have once again interrupted a key service route for United Airlines. Analysts at Deutsche Bank noted in a recent research note that the carrier has cancelled all service between the United States and Tel Aviv, as conflict between Israel and Iran threatens to escalate to all-out war.
“The company had recently been offering double daily service from Newark to Tel Aviv before it was suspended on rising tensions in the Middle East,” the Deutsche note reads. “That service was expected to resume by early September. However, United has now decided to cancel all Tel Aviv service for the remainder of its published schedule (through July 2025), including service to/from Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington-Dulles which were set to restart in November.”
United did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The airline suspended its Tel Aviv flights soon after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 and sparked a war in the Gaza Strip that has killed at least 39,000 Palestinians.
United restarted service to Tel Aviv in March, but it had to cancel it again in April. Then United began flying to Israel again in June, but a further ramping-up in flights is off the table.
On United’s most recent earnings call, CEO Scott Kirby said service to Israel was not a small part of the company’s bottom line.
“Tel Aviv, when we pulled it out, was obviously about 2% of United Airlines,” he said. “I think that number surprised everybody. And obviously, it is lucrative flying for United, just to say the least, and so its loss was significant”
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