Tickets for Israir’s New York–Tel Aviv flights are expected to go on sale next week

Israeli airline Israir announced this week that it has received approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation to begin selling tickets for nonstop flights between Tel Aviv and New York, with service currently slated to begin on October 19. There is one fairly important asterisk to keep in mind, though: Israir is still waiting for final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to actually operate the flights.

Still, this is a big deal for anyone who regularly flies between New York and Israel.

Israir plans to operate the route six times a week using its Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft, offering economy, premium and business-class fares. The airline says tickets are expected to go on sale next week, and if FAA approval comes through sooner, it could move up the launch date. Talk about an early Rosh Hashana gift from the universe.

For New Yorkers who have gotten used to treating the Tel Aviv flight search as a fairly limited exercise—El Al, then maybe El Al again at a different time—another Israeli carrier could shake things up, finally. Israir’s entry would add more seats and, potentially, more competitive pricing to one of the most heavily traveled routes between Israel and the United States. Fingers crossed that prices will slightly come down overall.

The timing of this new development is particularly interesting: American airlines have largely pulled back from Israel during the war and the latest regional instability, leaving El Al with an unusually dominant position on nonstop U.S.-Israel routes. But that landscape is already beginning to shift: Delta and United are also planning to resume New York-Tel Aviv service later this year, meaning Israir could be entering just as the route gets significantly more competitive.

This isn’t Israir’s first experience with the route, the airline operated service between Israel and the U.S. before suspending it in 2009. This time, though, it is coming back with two A330s acquired earlier this year, which are wide-body planes that give the airline the equipment it needs to make the transatlantic leap.

For kosher travelers, there is an obvious practical question: what will the onboard kosher situation look like, and how will Israir’s fares compare with El Al once those tickets actually hit the market?

We don’t have those answers yet but, after years of having remarkably few choices for nonstop travel between New York and Israel, the possibility of another airline entering the game is, at minimum, worth paying attention to. This is all to say: if you were looking for tickets to Israel, you might want to look into October travel dates.