After 6.5 Year Hiatus, El Al Will Resume San Francisco-Tel Aviv Service, Taking Advantage Of United’s Indefinite Suspension
San Francisco has a rocky history of service to Tel Aviv.
After years of discussions about the route, United launched 3 weekly 787-8 flights on the high-tech route in March 2016.
The flight was such an immediate success that it was bumped up to daily 787-8 service by October 2016. It was also one of Apple’s primary international routes.
In January 2018, El Al announced that they would compete with United on the route in Q4 with 3 weekly 787-9 flights.
It was a risky addition, as United enjoys a massive corporate and loyalty advantage in San Francisco.
Unsurprisingly, United fought back. After El Al’s announcement, United upgauged the San Francisco-Tel Aviv route from a relatively small 787-8 to a massive 777-300ER (77W), flooding the market with capacity.
That scared El Al enough to postpone the launch of their San Francisco service from November 2018 to 5/13/19. United took advantage of that to downgauge back to the 787-8 that winter, but they brought back the 77W just before El Al launched the route on 5/13/19.
The route didn’t last long, though that was for external reasons. It was suspended in March 2020 due to the pandemic, and it never returned.
United did bring the route back post-COVID with daily 777 and 77W service, but it hasn’t resumed post-10/7/23 and remains suspended indefinitely.
That means it’s a good time for El Al to try their luck on the route again, though don’t be surprised if United tries to beat them to the punch.
El Al will launch 3 weekly 787-9 flights between San Francisco and Tel Aviv on 10/25. It will operate on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays in both directions.
El Al flight 49 (love it!) will depart Tel Aviv at 1:05am and arrive into San Francisco at 7am the same day, a duration of 15:55.
El Al flight 48 will depart San Francisco at 2pm and arrive into Tel Aviv at 12:40pm the following day, a duration of 13:40.
I’m not a big fan of that schedule as it’s not conducive for sleeping hours and maximizing the day in San Francisco. When El Al previously flew the route it also departed Tel Aviv at 1:05am, but the return flight from San Francisco departed at 10pm, arriving into Tel Aviv at 7:40pm.
I assume that the difference is that it previously had to compete with United’s schedule. With no current competition on the route, it can get away with a subpar schedule to save time the aircraft spends idling on the ground in San Francisco.
Then again, if United is able to resume flying to Israel by October, I’d expect it to launch service on the route with a bigger plane and a better schedule.
But it’s good to see El Al trying out new routes once again. Maybe we’ll even see the airline try out routes like Baltimore or Detroit in the future?
Will you fly on El Al between San Francisco and Tel Aviv?
