American Airlines hasn’t flown to Israel in years, but recent moves suggest that may be changing. Will AA resume service between New York and Tel Aviv?
Is American Airlines Eyeing A Return To Israel? Hiring Hebrew-Speaking Flight Attendants Signals Maybe
Unlike Delta and United, American hasn’t operated service to Israel in over two years, and until now, it hasn’t even publicly floated plans to resume. But that may be shifting. As flagged by JonNYC, American is now hiring Hebrew-speaking flight attendants, a move that often precedes route announcements.
Historically, American’s Israel service has been inconsistent. The carrier only entered the U.S.–Israel market in 2021, launching routes from both New York and Miami. It planned to add Dallas–Tel Aviv in 2022, but that never materialized. Then in March 2023, American cut its Miami–Tel Aviv route, before the war even erupted.
By contrast, United has been the U.S. carrier most committed to Israel. Delta has also maintained intermittent service and is broadening its relationship with EL AL, the Israeli flag carrier. American, though, lacks those advantages: no joint venture tie-in in the region, and no deep Israel network.
Still, hiring cabin crew fluent in Hebrew is not trivial. Airlines generally staff multilingual flight attendants when launching or relaunching routes to markets with distinct languages. If American does relaunch, New York–Tel Aviv seems the most logical candidate for return. It’s arguably the most stable, highest-demand U.S.–Israel corridor. AA, which faces aircraft shortages and takes a more conservative approach to its network, will likely start from one destination before adding multiple destinations to TLV.
We might also see American add a Philadelphia–Tel Aviv flight, a route that US Airways once operated but was abandoned when it merged with American Airlines over a decade ago. While the New York market faces direct competition from Delta, EL AL, and United, AA would face no nonstop competition in Philadelphia.
Of course, demand alone doesn’t guarantee success. America’s previous Israel effort ran into geopolitical headwinds and even as we pray for peace in the region, the peace right now is very fragile, with Donald Trump warning that Gaza faces another invasion if the outbreak of infighting violence there is not quelled.
CONCLUSION
American’s Hebrew-speaker hiring is a compelling clue that it may be ready to reenter the Israel market and I suspect JFK is the likely option. While no route announcement has been made, I would expect one in the weeks ahead (my bet is on JFK or PHL).
If this is a sign that peace is holding, then, I suppose we should welcome it, all of us. I do find it fascinating that something as low-key as ‘hiring Hebrew-speaking flight attendants’ can be telling. Good on the internet sleuths like JonNYC that find this stuff out and report on it (except, if it was actually him, he may have told me that I comment too much, which is rich, coming from him. More is more, Jon. Less is less. You do you, fella.)
I don’t see why they’d prefer to compete over the busy NYC market, with El Al, United, Delta, and also smaller Arkia and Israir.
In MIA they’d only compete with El Al (FLL).
In PHL with none, and provide convenient connections to both east and west coasts.
DFW Was never gonna fly. No demand for Dallas itself and not so good for connecting.