European Airlines Battle, United Returns to Israel, and Other Airline News From This Week

Every week, we look at the most important stories that did not get an individual article in the past 7 days.

This week, airlines both foreign and domestic have made news, from Lufthansa eyeing yet another European airline investment to JetBlue and Breeze cutting flights in the U.S.

Let’s dive in.

Another Airline Battle Brews in Europe

Spain’s Air Europa is looking for investments, and at least 2 giant airline groups are in the running to buy a stake. Lufthansa Group is ahead of Air France-KLM in the race to buy 20% of Air Europa, according to Spanish news site El Economista.

That’s after IAG, the parent of British Airways and Iberia, tried to acquire Air Europa but desisted last year. IAG still holds a 20% stake.

This matters for U.S. flyers since Air Europa serves Miami (MIA) and New York-JFK and is a member of the SkyTeam alliance. This allows for earning and redeeming Delta SkyMiles on its flights. Entering the Lufthansa orbit might mean that Air Europa leaves SkyTeam and joins Lufthansa’s Miles & More loyalty ecosystem instead — also entering the Star Alliance along the way.

That’s what happened when Lufthansa bought 41% of Italian flag carrier ITA Airways last month.

United Returns to Tel Aviv, First U.S. Carrier Back to Israel

United Airlines announced that it will return to Tel Aviv (TLV) on March 15, becoming the first U.S. carrier to resume flights to Israel.

American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United all stopped flying to Tel Aviv last year as the conflict in the Middle East worsened. Israeli flag carrier El Al has continued serving U.S. airports.

United said a second daily flight from New York-Newark (EWR) to Tel Aviv will be added on March 29. Both services will be flown with Boeing 787-10s.

Delta said it will resume flights from New York-JFK to Tel Aviv on April 1. American Airlines has suspended flights until September.

Air France’s Ultra-Pricey Special Flights to Nice

Air France will run a few special flights from the U.S. to the French Riviera in May and June, and they are going to be insanely more expensive than taking a connecting flight.

In May, 2 special flights from Los Angeles (LAX) are timed to coincide with the Cannes Film Festival and the F1 Grand Prix in Monaco:

• May 12: Flight AF041 leaves Los Angeles at 1:15 p.m. and arrives in Nice (NCE) at 9:40 a.m. the following day
• May 26: Flight AF040 leaves Nice at 1:55 p.m. and arrives in Los Angeles at 4:55 p.m.

In June, 4 special flights will operate between New York-JFK and Nice to ferry media and advertising executives to and from the International Festival of Creativity, formerly the International Advertising Festival — the ad industry’s top annual event.

• June 14 and 15: Flight AF043 leaves New York-JFK at 4:35 p.m. and arrives in Nice at 6:30 the following day;
• June 19 and 20: Flight AF042 leaves Nice at 11:55 a.m. and arrives in New York-JFK at 2:40 p.m.

The Los Angeles flights will be operated with the Airbus A350 and the New York ones with the Boeing 777-300ER.

Air France is charging Hollywood and media types a lot for those flights. A one-way ticket on the June 14 nonstop from JFK to Nice in business class costs $20,353, whereas a one-stop connection can be booked for just $4,297.

Alaska Goes Bigger in Anchorage

Alaska Airlines is reopening its lounge at the Anchorage (ANC) airport after renovations and enlargement. Seating at the Alaska Lounge, located in Concourse C near Gate C-1, is more than doubled to 140, thanks to an additional 2,600 square feet.

In December, Alaska announced plans to open new airport lounges in San Diego (SAN) and Honolulu (HNL), plus a new international flagship lounge in Seattle (SEA) by 2027.

Etihad to Atlanta Becomes Daily

Etihad Airways‘ new service from Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Atlanta (ATL) hasn’t begun yet, and the airline is already deciding to increase its frequency. The flight begins on July 2, operating 4 times a week, but Etihad said sales have been so good that it will become a daily flight on November 1.

The service is the only nonstop between Atlanta, the biggest airport in the world by passenger traffic, and the United Arab Emirates. Etihad will fly the route with the Airbus A350-1000, featuring 44 business and 327 economy seats.

Southwest Changes Snack and Beverage Policy

If you are flying Southwest, you may not get anything to drink or eat if your flight is under 250 miles. According to Your Mileage May Vary, passengers have reported recently that they got no service on flights under that threshold.

Before, the cutoff had been 175 miles — in place since 2022, when Southwest began serving just water and coffee on those shorter flights.

Now, the Southwest Airlines site says that “snack and drink offerings are available on flights over 250 miles.”

JetBlue Ends Boston to New York

New York’s hometown airline is dropping an important route out of its home city. Ishrion Aviation reported that JetBlue is not selling Boston (BOS) to New York-LaGuardia (LGA) flights after April 29.

This decision hands a win to Delta, which operates up to 15 flights a day between the 2 airports. American Airlines also serves the route 4 times a day. According to Ishrion, 3 of the takeoff and landing slots vacated by JetBlue at LaGuardia may be bought by, or leased to, Canadian airline Porter. This would allow Porter to operate the 3 daily flights it has planned from LaGuardia to Toronto (YYZ).

Breeze Airways Scales Back in Connecticut

In December, Breeze Airways began flying from Tweed New Haven Airport (HVN) in Connecticut to 11 cities on the East Coast and in the South. Now, it seems the airline may have overreached since it’s reducing its flying from the Connecticut airport.

According to Ishrion Aviation, these are the changes:

• Sarasota (SRQ) will be canceled after less than 1 month of operation, ending on February 28
• Fort Myers (RSW) and Palm Beach (PBI) will be reduced from 5x to 2-3x weekly during March

Flights to Orlando (MCO) and Jacksonville (JAX) will not be affected.

Final Thoughts

This week, we’ve seen airlines cut back domestically, with JetBlue and Breeze reducing flights out of some destinations. Internationally, though, the news has been good. United is heralding the return of U.S. carriers to Israel, and Etihad said it has had so many bookings for the Atlanta-Abu Dhabi route that it decided to almost double the frequency on it — before even starting service.