dailynewsnblog
The war in Iran continues to have many consequences, including on aviation. According to 
Delta Air Lines’ latest schedule submission to Cirium Diio, the carrier has temporarily suspended all flights between New York JFK and Tel Aviv. That’s no surprise.
Delta’s latest development follows the postponement of flights between Atlanta and Tel Aviv. While this long route was due to return in April, the airline pushed that back to August two weeks ago. Of course, it remains to be seen whether these two routes are delayed further.
Delta From JFK To Tel Aviv
According to Flightradar24, the SkyTeam member paused flights between 
JFK and Tel Aviv in early March. While the route was due to return on April 1, the latest update shows that this has now been pushed back to June 1. The schedule is shown below.
The US Department of Transportation shows that Delta served JFK-Tel Aviv in 2001 and again from 2008. At 4,933 nautical miles (9,136 km) each way, it is the airline’s longest route from the Big Apple.
The airline has had three longer links from JFK in the past: Mumbai (served until 2020), Tokyo Narita (served until 2016), and—yes—the often-forgotten route to Amman (served until 2011). The link to Israel covers marginally more distance than Delta’s prior service to Cairo (served until 2011).
|
Frequency |
JFK To Tel Aviv; Local Times |
Tel Aviv To JFK; Local Times** |
|---|---|---|
|
Daily |
3:35 pm-9:35 am+1 |
11:45 am-5:05 pm |
|
* Based on June |
** Based on June |
A Look At Delta’s Performance
Booking data shows that approximately 630,000 round-trip local passengers flew between JFK and Tel Aviv in 2025. Given the many nonstop flights by Arkia, Delta, and El Al, around 84% of passengers flew nonstop. When Newark is included, with flights by El Al and United Airlines, the city-level market rose to just over a million local passengers—more than 2,700 people daily.
The DOT indicates that Delta’s JFK-Tel Aviv flights carried 99,496 passengers last year. That volume, which is lower than you might expect, is because the airline only returned to the market in April 2025. And due to the hostilities between Israel and Iran, no flights operated for some of June and all of July and August. However, traffic benefited from the frequency doubling to two daily flights on November 30. Targeting peak winter demand, this offering from the Big Apple existed until January 18, 2026.
The same source shows that Delta filled 85.6% of its available seats, which—as is usual with such things—says little in itself. It is always about how it was achieved. In contrast, El Al’s load factor to/from JFK was a whopping 96.2%.
While not specifically about the US, El Al was fined $39 million for excessively high fares. Given the carrier’s load factor, no wonder Arkia began JFK flights in 2025. And a third Israeli passenger carrier expressed interest in flying to the US, although that came to naught (for now).
New Flights: 11 Of The Most Exciting Airline Routes Launching This Week
See which notable examples made the list this week…
Delta Has Three Routes To Tel Aviv
As of March 25, and subject to change, the huge carrier plans three routes to Israel this year. JFK flights are scheduled to return on June 1 (daily A330-900), followed by those from Atlanta on August 5 (three weekly A350-900) and finally Boston on October 24 (daily A330-900).
Let’s look at Delta’s service from Atlanta to Israel. This long route, which covers 5,594 nautical miles (10,360 km) each way, has had a somewhat tumultuous existence. It was first part of its network between 2006 and 2011, when Boeing 777 flights often operated daily.
The route returned in 2023, when flights operated daily on the A350-900. But due to the Israel-Gaza war, they only lasted for a brief spell. The resumption in 2026 will be the third time lucky, whether flights return as planned or are postponed again.
