TEL AVIV, Feb 20 (Reuters) - El Al Israel Airlines [ELAL.UL] said on Wednesday it would expand a code-sharing agreement with Delta Air Lines, a move that is expected to increase its passenger traffic to the United States by seven percent. "The partnership with Delta is strategic," El Al president David Hermesh told a news conference. Until now, state-owned El Al had a limited code-sharing agreement that covered only a few U.S. domestic flights operated by Delta with a very small number of seats. The new agreement, which takes effect on April 14, will enable El Al passengers to continue on Delta flights to 12 U.S. destinations, including Delta hub Atlanta, Los Angeles, Washington, Dallas, Phoenix, Seattle and San Francisco. As a result, El Al said it would operate a minimum of three daily flights to New York-area airports and as many as five flights in peak months. Currently, El Al often operates only two New York flights in off-season. The Israeli carrier also flies to Toronto and Los Angeles. El Al accounts for 63 percent of the traffic between Israel and the United States, with Continental Airlines (CAL) the only other major airline operating non-stop service between the two countries. Of the 950,000 people who flew directly from Tel Aviv to the United States in 2001, 600,000 travelled with El Al. "We expect this agreement to increase our share of the market by 5-7 percent," Hermesh said. Delta began a non-stop service between New York and Tel Aviv last June, but it was short-lived, indefinitely suspended on September 11 after just 198 flights. Hermesh said El Al and Delta plan to fully link their reservation systems in 2003, which would remove all limitations on the code-sharing agreement.