It is a fifteen-hour thread stitching two of the planet’s busiest innovation hubs back together. From October 25, 2026, El Al will once again fly nonstop between Tel Aviv and San Francisco — reconnecting Israel and Silicon Valley directly for the first time since 2020.

And the airline could not resist a wink: the outbound flight is numbered LY49, a nod to the San Francisco 49ers.

Back to the Bay After Five Years

El Al last served San Francisco before the pandemic grounded the route in 2020. Now it returns three times a week, flown by the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner — quieter, more efficient, and far better suited to a marathon sector than the jets that flew it last time.

At roughly 15 hours, it is one of the longest routes in El Al’s network, threading the needle between the Eastern Mediterranean and Northern California.

A Bridge to Silicon Valley

The logic is all about who is on board. The Bay Area is home to a large and influential Israeli community, and the constant churn of engineers, founders and investors shuttling between Tel Aviv’s startup scene and Silicon Valley creates exactly the kind of premium-heavy demand airlines love.

The 49ers Flight

With Classic Economy round-trips starting around $1,199 and a flight number chosen for a football team, El Al is clearly leaning into the route’s personality. For travellers who would otherwise connect through a congested European hub, a single nonstop hop — even a 15-hour one — is its own kind of luxury.

The question now, as one Bay Area report put it, is whether a US carrier decides to follow El Al back across the Pacific rim and into the same market.

Sources: El Al; The Times of Israel; Reuters; The Jerusalem Post; The Points Guy.