United States Congressman Ritchie Torres has called on the 'Big Three' American airlines to resume flights to Israel. He claims that airlines are effectively boycotting or discriminating against Israel. Calling on airlines to resume flights Since October of last year, American carriers' operations to Israel have been sporadic.
This is because of ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, and now Israel and Hezbollah. Recently, all three major US airline canceled their operations to Israel. Torres begins his letter by stating that the suspension of flights between the US and Israel has gone on for so long that it is impacting the market.
EL AL , Israel's flag carrier, has been the only airline consistently connecting the countries. Torres claims that because no airlines are competing, flights have become more expensive, and customers now face a de facto monopoly . Because the US carriers' exit of the Israeli market was voluntary, Torres said that airlines should not be allowed to effectively boycott travel to Israel and discriminate against the world's only Jewish state.
He adds, "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 nothing that UAE airlines like Etihad, FlyDubai, and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi continue to fly to Israel without incident." Torres cites a 2014 36-hour ban from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on travel to Israel and believes that was justifie.