Air India has announced the resumption of operations on the Tel Aviv-Delhi route starting March 2, 2025 with five weekly flights, after more than six months without direct flights to India.
Delhi serves as a significant hub for connecting flights to destinations in East Asia. With Air India's return to Ben-Gurion Airport, it will become the only airline to operate direct flights between Israel and India.
The Indian national airline suspended operations in Israel after October 7, but recommenced operations relatively quickly compared with other airlines in March 2024. However, the Iranian attack on Israel the following month led to the cancelation of the company's flights until May when flights were resumed until the escalation of the conflict with Hezbollah in the north in August.
El Al, which halted flights to Mumbai during the COVID-19 pandemic, had planned to resume the route after Oman gave Israeli carriers permission to fly over its airspace in February 2023, thus shortening the route by several airs. Arkia also planned to introduce direct flights to Sri Lanka, but the outbreak of the war disrupted these plans.
Other major airlines announced resumption of flights to Israel after the war
Air India's announcement follows the announcements of other major airlines who are also resuming flights to Israel, which include Lufthansa Group, Air France, British Airways, easyJet, and Ryanair.
Air India is the first airline to resume long-haul flights to Israel with no official announcement yet of the resumption of flights by US airlines or Air Canada.