After years of facing layovers, Bay Area travelers will once again be able to fly nonstop from San Francisco to Tel Aviv starting this fall.
On Oct. 25, El Al will bring back three direct flights per week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, both ways, between San Francisco International Airport and Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport. The flight number on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner departing Israel will be LY49, a nod to the San Francisco 49ers.
El Al introduced the flight in 2019 but suspended it in March 2020 at the start of the Covid pandemic when global travel came to a halt. Its only nonstop competition in San Francisco came from United Airlines, which stopped its direct flight from SFO to Ben Gurion after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel led to war.
The SFO spokesperson’s office told J. it has consistently heard from travelers wondering when a direct flight will return, including from Silicon Valley tech workers and entrepreneurs who need to visit Israel for business.
A prominent airline and travel industry watcher considers El Al’s move a significant one.
“I don’t think we can underestimate the importance of El Al’s decision to return to San Francisco, especially now,” analyst Henry Harteveldt told J. El Al “could choose to open a new city that it’s never served before. And instead El Al is saying, ‘We are going back to San Francisco.’ And I think that is a sign of a recognition in the health of the tech communities, business communities and Jewish communities at both ends of the route.”
Disruptions in airline service to and from Israel have become common in recent years with U.S. carriers repeatedly suspending and resuming Tel Aviv flights as the regional security situation has shifted. Currently, no U.S. carriers have direct flights to Tel Aviv.
United introduced its nonstop flight from SFO in 2016. That followed a campaign led by Israeli tech workers in the Bay Area. A group of them gathered over 8,000 signatures by late 2015, convincing United to add the flight.
“For many Israeli entrepreneurs, Silicon Valley-based tech employees, and investors, [United’s] flight used to be the most efficient and convenient option,” Omer Fein, former head of the Israeli economic mission to the West Coast, told J. in an email. “Since it was suspended, people often point to the added friction of connections, longer travel times and less predictable itineraries. There’s a clear preference to see the direct route return.”
It’s unclear if and when United will reinstate its nonstop flight. A United spokesperson told J. that all of its direct flights to Tel Aviv remain canceled through “at least” Sept. 7.
However, Harteveldt expects United to follow El Al’s lead.
“I am sure that El Al’s decision to return to San Francisco will prompt United to announce it is going to resume its San Francisco-Tel Aviv flight,” he said. “I don’t think United is going to let El Al have the nonstop market to itself, at least not for very long — of course, presuming that it is indeed safe for airlines to operate in and out of Israel.”
SFO declined to confirm whether it’s in talks with United. But the airport’s marketing and development team is “in regular contact with airlines to promote nonstop flying to underserved destinations,” an SFO spokesperson said in an email to J. “Tel Aviv is among the top of such destinations.”
Until then, El Al will have the nonstop market from San Francisco to itself, though the airline has a reputation for charging premiums.
“Most people want a nonstop, so they’re going to take a nonstop, but sometimes El Al is also extremely expensive,” San Francisco-based travel agent Leslie Courts told J. “They have the only game out of L.A.”
In addition to Los Angeles, El Al also offers nonstop flights from Miami, Boston and New York.
El Al’s round-trip tickets from San Francisco to Tel Aviv start at $1,299.
While demand for direct flights is expected to remain high, California Israel Chamber of Commerce executive director Sharon Vanek said keeping the route alive will be a “two-way street.”
“El Al has to deliver fair pricing and reliable service,” she told J. in an email. “The tech business runs on face-to-face trust, and you can’t build that easily when a trip takes two days of travel.”