American Airlines to pull out of Israel in January

American Airlines is pulling out of Israel, saying its US Airways-operated service was never able to consistently make money on flights between Philadelphia and Tel Aviv.

US Airways, which is now part of American, does not serve Tel Aviv from any other city. The service will end Jan. 4, with American saying in its employee newsletter that "we lost more than $20 million in the past year alone" on the route.

"At the six-year mark, we have yet to turn a profit on this route," Rhett Workman, American's managing director of government and airport affairs, says to The Philadelphia Inquirer.US Airways' last flight is set for October, after which all of the combined company's flight will operate as American Airlines flights. American is the world's biggest carrier following its 2013 merger with US Airways.

American Airlines to pull out of Israel in January

Just thought this really interesting with everything going on. Is there soon to be conflict there soon and I ask that because that's when companies usually stop flights to places. I honestly don't believe the company saying they are losing money on the flights, I think it's a political move the company has made. What do you think ATS???

a reply to: BlessedLore

Is there really a correlation of airlines stopping services before a conflict?

a reply to: BlessedLore

I think they lost 20 million dollars and are pulling out. There's always gonna be conflict there between Hamas and Israel's right wing gov't. The airline didn't seem to care about that conflict for 6 years so I doubt that's the reason they're pulling out now.

Cash is king.

Last flight october?

a reply to: BlessedLore

I'm six years they have yet to make a profit. Why continue doing something you know isn't going to make money, when that's the entire point of a business?

The route starts in Philadelphia, which means competing with the major New York airports and Newark. All four of those are far more popular for flights like this.

Knowing how tight the airline industry is for cash, this surprising part is that they let the route stay in service hemorrhaging it that badly for so long.

a reply to: BlessedLore

A frustrated Israel could not be consoled at the time of this writing.

a reply to: Sremmos80

I thought there was but after seeing your reply I tried google search on "correlation of airlines stopping services before a conflict" and came up cold lol. But I swear over the years there has been times when it has happened maybe I'm wrong.

Still this seems weird to me to see this in the news at this time.
But my tin foil could be on too tight on this one, I admit lol

a reply to: markosity1973

Even with the merger American has one of the oldest and most expensive fleets flying. They seriously need to cut expenses now. US AIRWAYS could get away with it. American can't.

a reply to: Swills

And it might just be the case, time will tell

a reply to: yulka

Glad you noticed that, I saw that too and was like.........

a reply to: Zaphod58

But why wait till 6 years?? It just seems like elite symbolism to me.

If I was American Airlines I would have stopped after 2 years or less if not profitable....

a reply to: greencmp

I agree

a reply to: BlessedLore

Because until this year it was US AIRWAYS, not American. They could afford to keep flying it hoping to eventually make a profit. Their operating costs were low enough. Their European routes have been profitable so they were hoping this one would be too eventually.

Now they've merged with American and they're cutting non-profitable routes to cut costs down. American can't afford to keep flying routes that lose money.

Thanks to the merger, the age of the American fleet is down to 11.7 years. That includes aircraft that are over 20 years, 15 years, etc. Aircraft that old are expensive to operate, so they're cutting costs.

a reply to: Zaphod58

True, but still

Practical Company management, if US Airways was choking why wait to stop the flights???

That said your post makes perfect sense as well, I'm in the middle on this one

a reply to: Zaphod58

have many flights do they have to Israel?

a reply to: BlessedLore

They weren't choking. They were doing rather well from 2006 on. In fact they're taking over American, not the other way around. Under the merger terms they kept the American name as it was more recognizable. This is the second merger they've been through, and second airline they've absorbed.

a reply to: yulka

American? One. They flew daily using two aircraft, one traveling in each direction. United and Delta both fly there out of the New York area.

The last flight is Jan 4th, with a Jan 5th return flight to Philadelphia.

a reply to: BlessedLore

It's clearly the case. Even when there is a one sided conflict between Israel and Gaza, Israel's airports are in no real danger from attacks so even if the airline is somehow privy to some future conflict why would they care since no airline has been shot down by Hamas?

They canceled because they lost 20 MILLION dollars. There's no conspiracy here.

a reply to: Swills

Exactly. They were hoping that when fuel prices dropped so low they'd start to see a profit, but didn't.