Air India Resumes Direct Flights to Israel After Seven-Month Hiatus

Air India will resume its flights to Israel on Thursday, October 1, after a suspension of over seven months. The Indian airline will operate five weekly flights between Tel Aviv and Delhi, from Sunday to Thursday, using Boeing 777 aircraft. This resumption makes Air India the sole carrier offering direct flights between Israel and India.

The flight from Delhi (AI139) is scheduled to depart at 05:00 and arrive in Tel Aviv at 08:30, following a flight time of approximately seven hours. The return flight (AI140) will depart from Tel Aviv at 10:30, landing in Delhi at 19:45 after about five hours and 45 minutes. According to the company's Israeli representation, the current flight schedule is planned to operate until March 27, 2027.

The reestablishment of the direct route will expand flight options from Israel to East Asia and the Pacific region via India, as Air India offers connecting flights from Delhi to numerous destinations in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Air India initially suspended its flights to Israel on February 28, following the outbreak of war and the closure of Israeli airspace. On that day, flight AI139 from Delhi to Tel Aviv, already en route, was forced to return to India and diverted to Mumbai. The airline subsequently suspended its operations in the region, and the Tel Aviv route remained inactive even after some flights to other Middle Eastern destinations resumed. The suspension of this route was extended multiple times.

In late May, the company announced it would not return to Tel Aviv before the end of July, citing the security situation in the region. Prior to this, Air India's operations in Israel had experienced several interruptions and resumptions since October 7, 2023. The airline had briefly resumed the Tel Aviv-Delhi route in early 2026, but suspended it again less than two months later.