American Airlines To Discontinue Service To Tel Aviv

(RTTNews) - American Airlines Group, Inc. (AAL) announced it will pull out of Israel in early January 2016 by discontinuing service between Philadelphia and Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv as the airline has not been able to return a profit on the route in the past six years. This was announced by the airline in its newsletter to employees dated August 20.

"This route has been a source of pride for our airline, our PHL and International teams, and our community - and we did not make this decision lightly. There are many different factors that determine the overall success of a route," the airline stated.

Launched in 2009, the Philadelphia-Tel Aviv route had been the longest in US Airways' route network prior to the company's 2013 merger with American, which made it the world's largest carrier.

Prior to the merger, US Airways flew on the route, while American does not fly to Israel. US Airways was always said to have been faced with stiff competition from New York-based flights operated by United Airlines and El Al Israel Airlines Ltd.

American said it has operated on the route year-round for six years and have never turned a profit in any year. It added that it lost more than $20 million in the past year alone.

"At a certain point, no matter how much we want to serve a particular route, we have to make the right decision for our business," the airline added.

However, the airline said Philadelphia is a prime hub for connecting customers to and from destinations throughout Europe, and will continue to be an important, strategic hub for its partners through the Atlantic Joint Business.

American added that customers can still access Tel Aviv through its joint business partner British Airways via London, or through its codeshare relationship with El Al via its European gateways such as London, Paris, Madrid and Frankfurt.

"The excellent and dedicated teams at Ben Gurion Airport and the Tel Aviv downtown office have made outstanding contributions to the company and worked diligently to take care of our customers. We will discuss the implications of this business decision with each of those team members separately," Art Torno, senior vice president of international and cargo, as well as Suzanne Boda, senior vice president of hubs and gateways stated.