Breaking: American Canceling Tel Aviv Service – PHL-TLV Ends January ’16 – Unprofitable

by Adam

Wow, in a shocking release today, American says that the legacy US Airways flight never made a profit in six years of service and that they are canceling the route as of January. The Street obtained a copy of the release.  When word of an AA/US merger first broke, one of the biggest questions was where AA would add TLV service from…with many guessing JFK or MIA. What a turn of events, the final flight to Tel Aviv will depart PHL on 1/5/16 while the return will depart from TLV on 1/16/16. I’m surprised as both business and economy were almost always sold out (and they weren’t cheap), though obviously we were unaware of the operational costs (including security for the flight). What role did AA’s continued dispute with former TWA employees and the Israeli government play?

“The route has never been profitable for our airline. We want to give every route the chance to succeed, and we gave it a fair shot, but 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. Customers can still access Tel Aviv through our joint business partner British Airways via London or through our codeshare relationship with El Al via our European gateways such as London, Paris, Madrid and Frankfurt.”

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3 comments

DaninMCI August 20, 2015 - 2:52 pm

Dang. I’ve been saving up for this route. Figures. I’m not so sure PHL-TLV is the best route for them. Maybe NYC(any)-TLV or something like MIA-TLV would be a better fit.

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shay peleg August 20, 2015 - 2:56 pm

They pulled out because they owe 15 million dollars to ex TWA employees , what a lame move.

Reply
Gerald August 21, 2015 - 1:22 am

Isn’t $15 million chump change for American?

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