American Airlines has remained the US global carrier which maintained a suspension of its flights to Israel over safety and security concerns for the longest period of time, stretching all the way back to the Gaza war’s start.
But on Sunday, it finally announced that it plans to resume flights to Israel in March, marking the carrier’s return to the route between New York’s JFK Airport and Tel Aviv. These flights have been halted going all the way back to the Hamas terror attack of October 7, 2023 – after which the two-year war in Gaza followed.
American Airlines’ US competitors Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have already reinstated their routes to Israel. The past two years saw Israel’s flag carrier El Al, as well as a couple of the country’s smaller airlines, step up to operate most international routes in and out of Israel.
But foreign airlines are slowly coming back with British Airways, SAS, Iberia, and Swiss as among those announcing they are set to resume flights this week.
One industry publication has reported, “It had been widely speculated that American was plotting a return to New York, with the airline recently looking to hire Hebrew-speaking flight attendants, which is usually a fair sign that an airline is looking to resume flights to the region”
“While for now AA will kick off with non-stop flights from JFK, a service from Los Angeles remains a rumor, and there are no immediate signs that the airline will consider services from other major hubs such as Philadelphia International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, or Miami International Airport,” the same outlet detailed.
All of this signals global optimism that the Trump-brokered ceasefire plan in Gaza will hold, after it has been in effect for over two weeks at this point.
However, Al Jazeera has reported that nearly 100 Palestinians have died in brief flare-ups in fighting and Israeli airstrikes, which the White House has described as not violating the ceasefire (from the Israeli side’s perspective at least).
American Airlines to Resume Tel Aviv Service March 2026
“The return to Tel Aviv also comes as the Trump administration brokered a fragile peace deal to end the Israel-Gaza war.” pic.twitter.com/HuxzFKYU0a
— Skift (@skift) October 25, 2025
Hamas is still vowing the return of more bodies of the deceased hostages, while Israeli intelligence is newly saying it knows the locations of some of these. The Netanyahu government has blasted this failure of Hamas to uphold its end of the phase one part of the deal, and is demanding swift action on the return of all hostages.
Loading recommendations…