Dem Rep. Ritchie Torres Slams U.S. Airlines for Suspending Flights to Israel: ‘Effectively Boycotting’

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) criticized several airlines for suspending flights to Israel, noting that it was “effectively boycotting” Israel.

In a letter obtained by the Jewish Insider, Torres addressed the CEOs of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines and called for “air travel to Israel” to be restored, noting that due to the “prolonged” suspension, El Al, an Israeli airline, had a “de facto monopoly” on air travel to the country as it was the “sole carrier” still offering flights from the United States to Israel.

“I am writing to express concern about the suspension of air travel between the United States and Israel,” Torres wrote in his letter. “The suspension has been so prolonged and so pervasive that El Al, an Israeli airline, has become the sole carrier offering direct flights from America to Israel.”

Torres continued to note that due to the “lack of competition,” air travel to Israel was more expensive, and not as readily available.

“The lack of competition has made air travel to Israel less available and less affordable, putting customers at the mercy of a de facto monopoly that can easily gouge prices with impunity,” Torres continued.

The letter from Torres comes as Delta Air Lines announced that it would extend the suspension of flights to Israel until October 31, while American Airlines said it would be halting flights from the U.S. to Israel until the end of March of next year.

Torres continued to add that airlines “should be prohibited from effectively boycotting or otherwise discriminating” against Israel:

Unlike in 2014, when the FAA forbade air travel to Israel (generating considerable controversy at the time), the American airline industry has arbitarily and unilaterally imposed its own ban on travel to Israel, independently of an order from the FAA. Airlines should be prohibited from effectively boycotting or otherwise discriminating against the world’s only Jewish State. It is one thing to temporarily suspend air travel to Israel on security grounds as defined by the FAA. But to unilaterally suspend air travel indefinitely until mid-2025, as American Airlines has done, has the practice effect of a boycott. Given the arbitrary length of the suspension, one could be forgiven for thinking that the BDS movement had taken over the American aviation industry without anyone noticing, much less crying foul.

Torres continued to question how it made sense for other airlines, such as Etihad Airways, FlyDubai, and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, to continue to offer flights to Israel, while United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines had suspended air travel to the country.

“We are calling on every American airline to restore air travel to Israel and to operate based on FAA guidance in order to prevent the appearance and the substance of discrimination against the Jewish State,” Torres added.

The airlines’ suspension of flights to the Jewish country comes as Israel is facing heightened tensions and threats from Iran and Hezbollah.