Israel’s skies reopen to legal wrangling and high fares

With only several foreign carriers currently flying to Israel, led by Emirati’s Fly Dubai, fares to and from Tel Aviv remain very high at the start of the peak summer season.

By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS

With Israel’s airport reopened and some foreign airlines once again flying to Israel after the war with Iran, the legal wrangling over customer compensation due to cancelled flights and other travel disruptions during the 12-day conflict has also taken off.

The four Israeli carriers, led by El Al, are facing multiple class-action suits over their pricing policy during the war, while foreign carriers who stayed away entirely from Israel for at least two weeks—with most still avoiding flying to Tel Aviv—have argued to the Israeli government that they should not be responsible for compensation due to the war.

Israel’s main international airport resumed full operations last week, and after tens of thousands of Israelis stranded abroad during the war have mostly returned home, summer airfares are skyrocketing anew amid high demand and greatly diminished flights.

“I understand the financial implications if the foreign airlines who elected to stop flying here have to pay out compensation as the law demands,” Mark Feldman, CEO of Ziontours told JNS on Tuesday.

“There was an amendment to the law in the Knesset to woo foreign airlines back, so I am unclear if they are still liable.”

“We all felt the high prices, and they certainly could have been lower, but as private companies they can do as they choose,” Yoni Waxman, deputy chairman of Israel’s Ophir Tours, told JNS on Tuesday. “This is for the courts to decide.”

Israel’s national carrier, El Al, which had already faced allegations of price gouging during the 20-month war against Hamas, did accommodate ticketed passengers once Israel’s airspace reopened on repatriation flights, even as they also opened up sales to non-ticketed passengers, some at capped one-way prices in economy class.

In contrast, Israel’s smaller carriers, including Israir and Arkia, often made stranded Israeli passengers rebook at higher fares.

Sky-high summer fares

Meanwhile, with only several foreign carriers currently flying to Israel, led by Emirati’s Fly Dubai, which is offering a whopping ten daily flights, fares to and from Tel Aviv remain very high at the start of the peak summer season.

Although Israel has been a profitable market for foreign airlines and demand is expected to be high, most foreign carriers have canceled flights to Israel through mid to late summer, as they have already rerouted planes to other destinations.

Air France is due to resume service next week while Madrid’s Air Europa will restart flights on July 14.

Still, U.S. carriers are only returning to Israel in the middle or the end of the summer, with United Airlines set to resume flights in August and Delta Air Lines in September, giving fully booked Israeli carriers El Al and Arkia a complete monopoly on the lucrative transatlantic route for the next month.