Delta Restarts Its New York to Tel Aviv Route on September 6

Delta Air Lines will resume daily nonstop flights between New York John F. Kennedy International Airport and Tel Aviv on September 6, 2026. The carrier announced the restart on August 31, more than six months after it grounded the route during the war between Israel and Iran.

The route Delta is bringing back

Delta will operate the route with the Airbus A330-900neo, configured with Delta One, Delta Premium Select, Delta Comfort and Delta Main cabins. The first flight leaves New York on September 6 and reaches Ben Gurion International Airport the next morning, with the return leg departing Tel Aviv on September 7.

The airline suspended the route at the end of February 2026, after Israeli and United States strikes on Iran closed large parts of the region’s airspace. Delta extended the suspension several times, first into June and then into September, as the conflict continued.

United Airlines plans to restart its own Newark to Tel Aviv service on September 8, two days after Delta. The Times of Israel reported that United will fly two daily rotations with Boeing 787 Dreamliners and add a third frequency in November.

The staggered timing reflects how carefully airlines manage a return. Being first back carries a marketing advantage on a route with strong demand from business and diaspora travelers, but it also concentrates the risk if the security picture changes again.

How an airline decides a route is safe to fly again

Resuming a route into a recent conflict zone is not a matter of waiting for a ceasefire. Airlines run a formal security review that weighs government threat assessments, the operating status of the destination airport, and whether the approach and departure paths keep aircraft clear of hostile airspace.

In the United States, the FAA issues flight prohibitions and advisories, known as NOTAMs, that bar or restrict US operators from flying over specific countries and altitudes. Delta said its decision followed a thorough review of the evolving security environment, made in coordination with aviation authorities and government agencies.

War-risk insurance is part of the calculation too. Coverage for flights into conflict areas is priced separately from an airline’s standard policy, and it can be withdrawn or repriced at short notice, which effectively sets a floor on when commercial service can restart.

Ben Gurion Airport returned to full international operations in the spring after the ceasefire, and foreign carriers have come back in stages since. A wildcat strike by ground workers briefly disrupted the airport in August. Separately, Israir won FAA approval in August to launch Tel Aviv to New York flights of its own in October.