South Florida travelers will soon have more options to visit religious sites, family members or tech industry colleagues in Israel as El Al resumes nonstop service between Fort Lauderdale and Tel Aviv.
Starting April 15, the state-owned airline will fly between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. The year-round service will be offered twice a week in each direction. There will be an approximately 12-hour journey from Fort Lauderdale on Mondays and Saturdays.
The new flights come at a time when the situation in the Middle East remains unstable. Over a thousand people were killed and hundreds taken hostage in attacks in October by Hamas, a group the US designates as a terrorist organization. Israel’s military response in the Gaza Strip has killed thousands of people.
Almost immediately after the attacks, US airlines, with the exception of El Al, canceled their flights to Israel. The largest cruise companies also stopped their stopovers in Israeli ports. El Al had offered seasonal flights from Fort Lauderdale, but stopped these in mid-October.
The new flights are a big win for the Jewish community in South Florida. According to the Israeli Consulate in Miami, the region is home to the third-largest Jewish population in the United States after New York and Los Angeles. And Broward County is home to the largest Jewish community in Florida, with over 230,000 people.
In 2022, El Al moved its American headquarters from New York City to Margate, Broward.
Outside of South Florida, El Al offers nonstop flights from New York, Boston and Los Angeles.
The Israeli airline continues to fly from Miami International Airport. El Al offers five nonstop flights per week between Miami and Tel Aviv. Flights depart MIA on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
A boost for the Jewish community and technology leaders
In addition to South Florida’s Jewish community, the region’s evangelicals, who frequently travel to Israel for religious reasons, as well as professionals from the growing business and technology communities, could also benefit from the new FLL service. Israeli companies such as Lendai, a financial technology company, Insightec, a medical company, and Fullpath, a platform for car dealers, have offices in the Magic City.
The innovation-focused IDEA Center at Miami-Dade College has a partnership with the Entrepreneurship Center at Tel Aviv University.
Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade County’s first Jewish mayor, led a business delegation of more than 50 people to Israel in 2022 along with the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. She has been a vocal supporter of Israel since the Hamas attacks last October. Less than two weeks later, the mayor had Miami-Dade County purchase another $25 million in Israeli bonds, bringing the total to $75 million.
Other airlines return to Israel
The resumption of El Al flights from Fort Lauderdale comes at a time when major US airlines are resuming their services to Israel:
▪ Delta Airlines will resume daily nonstop service between New York-John F. Kennedy Airport and Tel Aviv starting June 7. The Atlanta-based airline said in a statement that its decision to resume operations was “the result of a comprehensive safety risk assessment by the airline.”
Delta has previously flown from Boston and Atlanta to Tel Aviv, but has not yet announced whether those flights will resume.
For many South Florida residents with connections to Latin America, Delta flights take on additional significance.
Since January, the airline has had an agreement with El Al so that passengers can earn frequent flyer miles. It also has a partnership with LATAM Airlines so that travelers can fly with LATAM or Delta between Latin America and Miami and then continue on to Israel with El Al.
▪ United began daily flights between Newark Liberty International Airport and Tel Aviv in March.
▪ American Airlines will resume operations with flights to Israel from JFK Airport in October.
