Israel – American Airlines cited financial losses in announcing that the airline will be permanently shutting down its flights to Israel come January, but industry insiders say that the real reason for the cancellation is American’s ties to Arab carriers in the One World global alliance.
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HAARETZ.com (http://bit.ly/1hCtjWN) reports that according to Israel Airport Authority data some 95,000 passengers have flow American’s Philadelphia-Tel Aviv route so far this year, a 2.7% increase from 2014, but an American Airlines rep told Bloomberg News last week that the route has “never been profitable” while citing a $20M loss last year as the reason for the cancellation.
But industry sources rejected the claim, stating that that it’s American’s deep ties to One World—an alliance which includes Qatar Airlines, Royal Jordanian, and the predominantly Muslim-run Malaysia Airlines—that is behind the move.
Chasdei Hashem that AA drop flights to israel! Being that they have such strong alliance with Arab countries, they no doubt have Arab pilots…. Enough said.
We could expect that any American airline will do so at any given time. This is the reason i despise Jews flying on any airline to Israel other than Elal
Well they fly from philly, last unchecked United said the the EWR/TLV flight is the only flight the have twice a day using a 777 other then its EWR/LHR route
Delta stop flying from Atlanta but their JFK/TLV flight is profitable
Both Sky team and Star alliance have arab partners … Also AA stopped the JFK/TLV flight when they took over TWA
well i guess that means more business for elal
Not convinced. They cancelled other international flights too from PHL that used to be US Airways flights.
The whole article is ridiculous and written by someone who has no knowledge of the airline industry. American Airlines passengers traveling after January 6 are being rebooked on British Airways and Iberia. Those airlines are part-owned by Qatar.
The article cites Royal Jordanian as a Middle East partner American wants to be close to. But Royal Jordanian has Tel Aviv service itself. Saudia hasn’t had any problems co-existing with Delta in Skyteam despite Delta’s Tel Aviv service.
“American signaled its commitment to the Israel route by sending a team of executives to Israel. In meetings with the media, they vowed to expand the route and add US destinations.” Of course they did! Airlines don’t tell the media their plans to end service to a destination before doing it. Cleveland was trumpeted as a profitable hub for United right up until the airline stopped being CLE_friendly.
The article sounds like it was written by someone who doesn’t believe we landed on the moon.
What a stupid article with no support for the anti-Israel speculation. They’ve been slashing unprofitable routes since the USAir merger and this route never was profitable. They are not a state subsidized airline like El Al and don’t run flights as an act of tzadakah. Kudos to them for taking timely action to cut their losses.
To #2 -The fact of the matter is that many Yidden, including Israelis, will not fly El Al, for several reasons. First of all, Delta, United, American, and until recently US Air, were less expensive than El Al. Secondly, the service is better on the American carriers than on El Al; also, they don’t squeeze you in with the seats, as is the case on El Al. In any event, good riddance to American Airlines. Delta has always provided better service to EY, than either American or US Air. Regarding United, the latter carrier has a bad reputation pertaining to customer service. Years ago, there were several charter flights to EY, but they are no longer in business.
American dropped the route when they purchased TWA due to serious $$ owed to Israel by TWA. Now that US Air is owned by AA, the old $$ obligations may have resurfaced. just wondering….