New York, New Jersey lawmakers urge expedited approval of additional Israeli flights
The lawmakers emphasized that U.S. airlines’ suspended flights have given El Al ‘a monopoly on direct flights’ creating ‘burdensome price increases for our constituents’

Boris Roessler/picture alliance via Getty Images
Passenger planes, including an Israeli El-Al jet, stand on the apron at Frankfurt Airport
A bipartisan group of lawmakers representing the New York and New Jersey areas urged the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration on Monday to expedite consideration of any applications from Israeli airlines to begin flights between Tel Aviv and JFK or Newark Liberty airports, as U.S. carriers have kept their flights suspended.
“While our strong preference would be for U.S. carriers to resume their service from the greater New York City area airports that serve our districts, unfortunately, these airlines continue to extend suspensions of their service to TLV,” the lawmakers said. “In the absence of U.S. carriers flying this critical route for our constituents, we strongly support additional Israeli carriers providing service between these two deeply connected communities to provide competition and lower customer prices.”
The lawmakers noted that recent reports indicate that Israeli carriers including Tech-Air, Israir and Arkia have announced plans to seek to establish service between the New York/New Jersey area and Tel Aviv, and urged the transportation regulators to provide expedited consideration of any such applications.
They said that Israeli national airline El Al currently “enjoys a monopoly on direct flights” between the U.S. and Israel which “has led to burdensome price increases for our constituents wishing to visit or welcome family and friends during this difficult time in Israel.”
They cited reports showing that tickets on El Al regularly cost more than $1,000 since Oct. 7, sometimes costing $3,600 for an economy-class ticket.
“We believe that there must be competition between airlines in the greater New York City area and the Tel Aviv market in order to ensure American consumers and their loved ones are not price gouged in this time of war,” the lawmakers wrote. “Crucial to that effort is your expedited consideration of any application that may come before you from an Israeli airline, especially for low-cost direct service between the greater New York area and Tel Aviv.”
“Ensuring that such service is able to begin swiftly will provide a much-needed additional link between our communities and Israel, when such a connection is more critical than ever to many of our constituents,” they continued.
The letter was led by Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Mike Lawler (R-NY), joined by Reps. Greg Meeks (D-NY), Nick LaLota (R-NY), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Laura Gillen (D-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Nellie Pou (D-NJ), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), George Latimer (D-NY), Grace Meng (D-NY), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and Rob Menendez (D-NJ).
U.S. airlines’ long-running suspension of flights to Israel has been attracting growing federal attention. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, recently urged U.S. airlines to resume flights and suggested that the continued suspension may be a “politically motivated boycott.”