El Al customers received emails this week confirming what we reported earlier: Israel's flagship carrier is halting direct service between Tel Aviv and Toronto this fall. According to the airline, it's readjusting its schedule to handle demand after COVID-19 threw the entire travel industry into turmoil.

But this may not be the end of El Al in Canada. Fred Lazar is an aviation expert who teaches at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. He has some insight into why El Al made the decision, what it means for Israeli-bound ticket fares on Air Canada (spoiler: they'll likely go up 10 to 20%), and why he believes El Al's executives will realize their error—and return next spring.

None of that, however, helps those who relied on El Al for trips to the Holy Land. On today's episode, you'll also hear from affected travellers about why they preferred to fly with El Al and how this abrupt ending has thrown their travel plans into disarray.

What we talked about:

Read The CJN's coverage of El Al closing shop in Canada
See the full list of the Order of Canada
Listen to our interview with the Canadian manager and players of Israel’s national women's hockey team

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.

Despite shattered goodwill, El Al could return to Toronto next spring, expert predicts