misterbean

True, TK doesn't serve PHL, but it does serve ORD, for example.
So ORD-PHL-TLV pax may have switched to ORD-IST-TLV.
PHL isn't much of a O&D market anyway.

TLVtraveler

Absolutely, they owe money, a lot of money, in fact according to Israeli labor law they owe an extra 20% each month since their debt started so the original amount is now exponentially higher (in the hundreds of millions if not more). AA will never land in TLV and that's a good thing, employees of former TWA lost a lot of money and pension funds, AA payed almost all former TWA employees but left TLV out of the agreement. As an Israeli I prefer that our government will think about worker's rights before the profit of foreign companies, and AA completely disrespected both their former employees and the Israeli legal system (not even bothering showing up to some of the court meetings!).

It's not like AA is unreplaceable, UA, DL and LY all have comparable products.
AA's excuse that the TLV is unprofitable is complete BS, their flights are almost always full and prices are high, if they really lost money on this line then they were doing something seriously wrong and it has nothing to do with TLV, it has to do with bad management...

misterbean

While I agree about the load factors and the fares, don't forget that it takes two airframes to run this route, with a lot of idle time - airframes which can be used to run two other shorter routes instead.
DL solved this by using the JFK-NRT rotation to maximize utilization of airframes, and UA solved this by going 2x daily. LY is a different story.

Indelaware

While there are many reasons to travel to TLV other than being Jewish, one should note that Metro Philadelphia has nearly the same population of Jews as does Metro Chicago, not to mention that Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey are more Jewish than the catchment area beyond Metro Chicago. Then too, there are Jews who boycott TK. Myself, I prefer to connect in western Europe in order to break up time-in-tube and enjoy an overnight visit there.

http://www.brandeis.edu/ssri/pdfs/Am...PopEst2012.pdf

NYTA

AA have been operating into TLV already. If they couldn't do so because of workers comp liability they would have already stopped.

FWAAA

Nonsense. AA and US have been under common ownership since December 9, 2013. AA and US were granted a single operating certificate on April 8, 2015. On October 17, 2015, AA will no longer use the US Airways name on anything. The US A330s that fly this route have been painted in AA livery for several months now. AA plans to fly this route until January 5, 2016.

Against all of that, the liability owed by the TWA bankruptcy estate to its former employees is irrelevant. If the plane were at risk of seizure, then AA wouldn't be flying it today and wouldn't continue it until next January.

Apparently, as internet urban legends are tough to eliminate, even when they're incorrect.

The TWA employees claimed last year that they're owed about 60 million Shekels, or about USD$16 million, from TWA:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...243314121.html

No disagreement from me on bad management. But the data support the claims of long-term losses on this route. NYC has 20 times the TLV O&D as PHL, meaning that the vast majority of the PHL passengers were connecting, and paying lower fares.

Completely correct. Merger on 12/09/13, Single Operating Certificate on 4/08/15, plane says "AA" on it, and it's planned to operate until 1/05/16. Against that, there is no risk that the former TWA employees could impound the plane to satisfy the debt owed to them by the TWA bankruptcy estate.

And if the debt was a potential problem, then AA has already paid them.

sds1493

+1. What is significant though is that AA don't think they can make TLV work from any of their other hubs. If AA don't think there is enough O&D traffic to make ORD or MIA work, then it doesn't bode well for LY who will have close to zero connecting pax, or any of the other legacy carriers.

nombody

I wonder if AA will at least resume the redemption of AAdvantage miles for flights on El Al, now that American no longer serves TLV directly.

misterbean

I don't see what their incentive is. If anything, they will probably be more interested in codesharing with BA and allowing AAdvantage miles accumulation through London.

Indelaware

Codesharing is irrelevant to mile earning. AA flyers earn miles on all flights operated by OneWorld carriers - without regard to the marketing flight number. Anyone flying:

TLV-DUS; TLV-MUC; TLV-TXL on AB;
TLV-HEL on AY;
TLV-LHR on BA;
TLV-HKG on CX (anticipated route);
TLV-VIE on HG;
TLV-MAD on IB; or
TLV-AMM on RJ

can earn AA miles.

Madone59

+1 The down time and lack of PHL O/D traffic is killing them on this route.

NYTA

They already codeshare with LY on flights from TLV to Europe, but strangely, no longer allow AA miles to be redeemed on LY.

FlyingOutTLV

CX does not fly to TLV.

And you forgot AY to Helsinki and HG to Vienna.

Indelaware

CX is anticipated. I've noted that and added AY & HG to my post.

FlyingOutTLV

^

Oh how I'd love to see CX in TLV. That would be an awesome gift to anyone with enough AA miles.