United returns to Israel: SF-Tel Aviv route to resume in March 2027
The direct route to the West Coast will resume on March 28 with a frequency of three flights per week, after being discontinued due to the war. El Al is expected to beat United by several months and launch its route to San Francisco as early as October 2026. United says the route will offer more business class seats than any other airline on the route
After multiple delays, the American airline United Airlines announced that it plans to resume direct flights between San Francisco and Tel Aviv on March 28, 2027, with a frequency of three flights per week. The company announced the move as part of the largest international network expansion in its history, which includes 10 new international destinations and three new routes.
The return of the route from San Francisco is particularly significant for Israel, as it is a direct connection to the West Coast of the US and the technology center of Silicon Valley. United notes that the route will offer more business class seats between San Francisco and Tel Aviv than any other airline. As a reminder, in January 2026 El Al announced its intention to operate a route to San Francisco, the first flight is scheduled for October 25, 2026, with a frequency of three times a week, so that United allows El Al to control the route for a few months before joining the competition.
The company is actually returning its route network to Israel for the first time, after the war led to the freezing of operations from Ben Gurion Airport. In February 2024, United announced that flights from San Francisco, Washington and Chicago to Tel Aviv would be reconsidered for the fall, after operations were suspended on October 7, 2023. Since then, it has not resumed full and regular operations in Israel, and as mentioned at this stage, only the route to San Francisco has been renewed.
From the perspective of the Israeli passenger, this means not only additional capacity but also direct access to the West Coast, with options for connecting from United's network in San Francisco to additional destinations in Asia and the US. The company currently operates more than 160 international destinations, and the current expansion includes, among other things, new routes from San Francisco to Okinawa, Newark to Luxembourg, Marseille, Ibiza, Valencia and Ljubljana, and Washington to Toulouse.
