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Washington, DC – U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro (NY-19) called out the Federal Aviation Administrator, Michael Whitaker, for the recent grounding of all American based carriers to Israel.

American based air carriers have placed an indefinite hold on all flights to Israel and cancelled trips with no plan of when they will resume – impacting numerous families in New York’s 19th Congressional District. This is happening despite many non-American airlines continuing to fly into Israel.

In the letter, Rep. Molinaro wrote, "I have hundreds of constituents who had booked flights to Tel Aviv that are now canceled by the air carriers, with no timeline for resuming. As you can imagine, this is incredibly frustrating to Americans who expect the airline industry to work in a predictable and fair manner. Especially since non-U.S. airlines are continuing to fly into Israel without issue. I also want to point out that Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel is considered one of the safest airports in the world."

The full text of the letter can be found below: 

Dear Administrator Whitaker,

I am deeply concerned by the lack of flights currently in service from the United States to Israel due to the recent decision by all U.S. based air carriers to place and indefinitely maintain a suspension on such flights.

I have hundreds of constituents who had booked flights to Tel Aviv that are now canceled by the air carriers, with no timeline for resuming. As you can imagine, this is incredibly frustrating to Americans who expect the airline industry to work in a predictable and fair manner. Especially since non-U.S. airlines are continuing to fly into Israel without issue. I also want to point out that Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel is considered one of the safest airports in the world.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which you oversee, has primary responsibility for ensuring the safety of air travel. The FAA sends urgent warnings and notices through the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system and restrictions through Special Federal Aviation Regulations (SFAR). The last time the FAA issued a warning about Israeli airspace was in October 2023, when Hamas launched the deadly and horrific attack on Israel. There has been no NOTAM warning or SFAR related to flights into Israel since then. Despite this, U.S. based airlines have suspended all flights from the United States into Israel. This creates several questions as I try to understand why these flights are indefinitely suspended.

I request you to respond to the following questions in writing, no later than September 6, 2024.

• Has the FAA instructed airlines in any way to suspend flights to Israel?

• Has the FAA in any way discouraged airlines from operating flights into Israel?

• What communication has the FAA had, both officially and unofficially, with U.S. based airlines about the safety of flying into Israel in the past two months?

  • Please share all correspondence that took place on this topic.

• How does the FAA work to ensure that political matters do not influence the decision-making process of the FAA?

• What communication has the FAA had with the International Civil Aviation Organization about flights into Israel in the past two months?

  • Please share all correspondence that took place on this topic.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.