Delta Air Lines, El Al Establish Codeshare Partnership

DALLAS — Delta Air Lines (DL) and El Al Israel Airlines (LY) have signed a codeshare agreement, opening up cooperation between the two airlines.

The long-term agreement announced on December 18 will come into effect on January 1, 2024. This codeshare is particularly useful for DL when no US carrier is operating scheduled flights into Israel. Furthermore, DL has announced that it will not resume operations in Tel Aviv (TLV) until March 2024, depending on the situation in that country.

Israel’s national carrier is the only airline still offering scheduled services between Israel and North America. This is due to hostilities in the region. Hamas militants carried out an unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, resulting in several airlines halting scheduled services to Israel.

Alain Bellemare, the President-International at DL, expressed the carrier's unwavering dedication to providing convenient and high-quality air service to and from Tel Aviv. He stated that through their codeshare agreement with LY, they will be able to offer customers in North America and Israel more convenient travel options.

Codeshare Benefits for Delta

Delta passengers flying from North America will be able to make use of LY’s nonstop services to Ben Gurion Airport in TLV, from New York (JFK), New York-Newark (EWR), Boston (BOS), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), and Fort Lauderdale (FLL).

EL AL’s code will be added to DL's non-stop TLV flights (when these are restarted), as well as up to 280 same-day connections via Delta’s U.S. gateways in New York-JFK, Boston, and Los Angeles to destinations including Atlanta, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Seattle, Dallas, and Toronto. EL AL’s CEO, Dina Ben Tal Ganancia, said, “We are proud of this cooperation with Delta, whom I see as a valued long-term partner.”

The arrangement allows improved connectivity for passengers flying between the USA and TLV. Both DL and LY will offer reciprocal codeshare and frequent flyer benefits, including the ability to earn and redeem DL’s SkyMiles or LY’s Matmid points across both carriers.

While the codeshare agreement will commence on January 1, frequent flyer benefits will open two weeks later, on January 15. These benefits will enable loyalty program passengers to enjoy perks such as lounge access, priority boarding, preferred seat access, and extra baggage allowances, along with earning and redeeming points.

Featured image: Delta Air Lines and El Al aircraft. Photo: Alberto Cucini and Marty Basaria/Airways