El Al plans to end service to one of its newest U.S. gateways next year.
The Israeli airline confirmed it will suspend flights to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in April 2026. Instead, the carrier will consolidate its Florida operations in Miami, the Miami Herald reported.
The airline began serving the route between Tel Aviv and Fort Lauderdale in September 2023 with two weekly flights.
“El Al will cease operations at Fort Lauderdale and will concentrate all Florida-bound flights in Miami,” Simon Newton-Smith, El Al’s vice president for the Americas, said in a statement to the Miami Herald.
El Al says it plans to operate seven weekly flights between Miami and Tel Aviv, except on the Jewish Sabbath, observed from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday.
Broward County – which operates Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport – called the news “disappointing” in a statement to the Sun Sentinel. “EL AL’s service between FLL and Tel Aviv was well-received amongst the traveling public with flights consistently operating on average over 90 percent full,” a county spokesperson said.
While seasonal flights to Fort Lauderdale began in September, the airline upped its service to year-round in April 2023.
Leave a Reply