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United to restart San Francisco-Tel Aviv flights

The move is set for March; the Chicago-based carrier plans to resume service to Israel next month from its Newark hub.

United Airlines
A United Airlines flight landing at Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, July 25, 2014. Credit: Oyoyoy via Wikimedia Commons.

United Airlines announced on Tuesday that it intends to resume service from San Francisco to Tel Aviv in the spring.

The Chicago-based carrier is returning to Israel from its Newark hub next month, just two days after arch-rival Delta Air Lines renews flights to Tel Aviv from New York as well.

United said it is restarting its San Francisco service on March 28 and will offer thrice-weekly flights on the route.

Historically, United has offered the most flights to Israel of any U.S. carrier.

United’s flights from Chicago and Washington, D.C., to Israel are scheduled to resume in October, while Delta’s flights from Atlanta are set to begin in December.

El Al Airlines announced in June that it would resume nonstop service to San Francisco in October after a six-year break amid heightened demand between the two tech hubs, and at a time when United’s service on the route was still suspended.

Etgar Lefkovits, an award-winning international journalist, is an Israel correspondent and a feature news writer for JNS. A native of Chicago, he has two decades of experience in journalism, having served as Jerusalem correspondent in one of the world’s most demanding positions. He is currently based in Tel Aviv.
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