El Al airline has announced that the opening of the new route to San Francisco will be postponed by half a year and will commence in May 2019.
El Al CEO David Maimon had announced earlier this year the airline would begin direct flights to San Francisco beginning around September.
The decision stems from accelerating the process of removing old planes from service, including the 767 aircraft that was damaged on the ground at Ben-Gurion airport two months ago. Last year an emergency was declared at Ben-Gurion International Airport prior to Boeing 767 test flight landing due to smoke in the cockpit. Five people were on the plane during that incident.
The company will compensate all passengers who purchased airline tickets for the postponement period.
