United Airlines to resume direct flights to Israel

United Airlines will resume its direct flights to Israel on March 2, the US airliner said in a statement on Thursday.

United, which suspended flights to Israel on October 7, 2023, following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict, is the first North American airliner to announce the resumption of flights to Israel.

The US carrier will first resume flights between Newark Liberty International Airport and Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv with a daily service.

The two initial flights are planned to stop in Munich "to ensure all service providers are ready to support non-stop daily service to and from Newark."

United said it performed a detailed safety analysis on resuming flights to Israel, including close work with security experts, government officials in the United States and Israel, and aviation associations.

Meanwhile, the US carrier plans to add a second daily flight on the Newark-Tel Aviv route as before the conflict, "as soon as May as travel demand recovers."

It added that other suspended routes to Tel Aviv from San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Chicago will be evaluated for resumption this fall.