House Democrat urges US airlines to restore Israel flights

Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres (N.Y.) on Wednesday criticized three major U.S. airlines for the continued suspension of flights to Israel, stating it is “effectively boycotting” the country.

In a letter to the CEOs of American, Delta and United Airlines, Torres said the “prolonged” suspension of the airlines’ flights to Israel has made air travel to Israel less accessible and more expensive.

“The lack of competition has made air travel to Israel less available and less affordable, putting customers at the mercy of a de facto monopoly that can easily gouge prices with impunity,” Torres wrote to American Airlines CEO Robert Isom, Delta CEO Ed Bastian and United CEO Scott Kirby.

Jewish Insider was the first to obtain Torres’s letter.

All three airlines stopped flying to Israel shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas assault that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza. Delta announced last week it would extend the suspension of flights through Oct. 31 “due to ongoing conflict in the region.” American extended the halt in flights through March 29 of next year. United reinstated the indefinite suspension of flights to Tel Aviv after temporarily resuming some direct flights between the U.S. and Tel Aviv earlier this year. A spokesperson for the company said it “looks forward to resuming flights as soon as it’s safe for our customers and crew.” 

Torres noted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not issued a travel ban to Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks, as it did in 2014 for 36 hours for U.S. carriers traveling to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

“It is one thing to temporarily suspend air travel to Israel on security grounds as defined by the FAA. But to unilaterally suspend air travel indefinitely until mid-2025, as American Airlines has done, has the practical effect of a boycott,” he wrote.

The New York Democrat later quipped the length of the suspension suggests the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions — or BDS — movement “had taken over the American aviation industry without anyone noticing, much less crying foul.”

“By what logic and in what universe is it safe for El Al to travel to Israel but too dangerous for American Airlines, Delta, and United to do so? It is worth noting that UAE airlines like Etihad, FlyDubai, and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi continue to fly to Israel without incident,” he wrote.

EI AI is an Israeli airline that has continued to offer direct flights from America to Israel.

Torres has been a longtime supporter of Israel and left the Congressional Progressive Caucus in February after splitting with members over their stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

The Hill reached out to American for further comment.