US major United Airlines inaugurated flights between San Francisco and Tel Aviv on March 30, 2016, the first ever non-stop service between the two cities. The carrier has served the Israeli market longer than any other US operator and has offered service continuously to Tel Aviv since 1999, currently linking the city twice-daily to its New York hub, Newark Liberty International Airport.

The new three times weekly operation between San Francisco International Airport and Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv is being operated using a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and with a 14 hour 10 minute outbound and 15 hour and five minute return flying time it is among the world’s longest scheduled non-stop air routes.

"Our new service between San Francisco and Tel Aviv is a direct response to customer demand," said Dave Hilfman, senior vice president of Worldwide Sales, United. "Our customers told us they wanted convenient, direct flights between these two markets. We took their needs to heart, considered thousands of customers who petitioned for the service and identified an opportunity to serve a significant customer base of high-tech-related business traveling between the Bay Area and Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv."

San Francisco is a key centre for Israeli business travel and one of the most popular US leisure destinations for Israelis. From its San Francisco hub, United operates nearly 280 daily flights to more than 90 destinations in North America, Latin America, Europe and the Asia/Pacific region providing transfer support to the strong point-to-point demand.

"Not only will United's service be extremely convenient for tourists traveling to Israel from northern California and the Pacific Northwest -- but it will also be a boon for the vast numbers of travellers in the high-tech industry who virtually commute between the Silicon Valleys of California and Israel,” said Anat Ben Yosef, Consul, Israel Ministry of Tourism.

Official arrival data shows that last year was a record year for tourism from the United States to Israel. “We expect this year to be even better," added the tourism ministry official.

United is already planning to increase capacity in the new market to meet strong demand and has confirmed that a Boeing 777 will substitute for the 787-9 for several weeks in June and July. Our Airline Route blog can confirm that the larger 777-200ER will be introduced on the route from June 6, 2016 and will operate through to July 31, 2016, a total of 24 return rotations.