Israeli carrier El Al has announced the launch of its longest scheduled route to date, connecting Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV) to Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) in Argentina.
The new service will start in November 2026 and will be operated twice weekly with Boeing 787-9 aircraft. Tickets will go on sale from May 2026.
The distance between Tel Aviv and Ezeiza International Airport is roughly 12,200 km (6,550 nm), although El Al will likely use a longer routing across the Mediterranean to Morocco before turning south for the Atlantic crossing. This longer route, which will result in longer flight times and fuel use, is due to the need for Israeli aircraft to avoid the airspace of several African countries, such as Libya and Sudan, for political and security reasons.
Flight time is estimated to be 16.5 hours from Israel to Argentina and 15.5 hours on the return leg.
The longest route currently operated by El Al, also with Boeing 787-9 aircraft, is Tel Aviv to Los Angeles (LAX), which is 12,189 km-long (6,582 nm) and usually takes 15.5 hours through an Arctic routing that takes the aircraft over Greenland and northern Canada.
The launch of this new route was announced during Argentinian President Javier Milei’s visit to Israel to attend the country’s Independence Day celebrations. During the trip, Milei met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and both leaders signed a number of agreements aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation
The new service linking the two countries also has a political significance, since Argentina is home to the largest Jewish community in South America.
El Al has previously attempted to maintain a regular service to Latin America between 2008 and 2011, when it operated a scheduled service between Tel Aviv and Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU). That route, however, was discontinued barely two years after its launch due to financial reasons.
However, according to several media outlets, the Israeli government is planning to subsidize the new Argentinian service to the tune of NIS 20 million (approximately US$6.6 million) during the 2026-28 period in order to guarantee the success of the new route.
El Al’s remarkable history in Argentina
Although this will be the first regular nonstop service between Buenos Aires and Israel, El Al played a major role in a rather remarkable historical episode in modern Argentine history.
In 1960, a special El Al flight visited Buenos Aires, ostensibly to carry an official delegation attending the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Argentinian independence. However, the aircraft was used to smuggle Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann out of the country. Eichmann, who had been living in Argentina under an assumed name, was captured by the Mossad and brought onboard the El Al aircraft disguised as a crew member. He was then flown to Israel, where he was tried and executed.
The diplomatic fallout from that incident meant that no other El Al aircraft was allowed to land in Argentina until 2017, when one of the airline’s aircraft carried Prime Minister Netanyahu on an official visit.