Several airline services are resuming flights to Israel, months after suspending their services due to the turbulent situation in the country. Now, airlines including British Airways are once again making the services operational, however, with certain restrictions.
The attack by Hamas on Israel on October 10, 2023, prompted most airlines to stop their services to David Ben-Gurion International Airport three days later.
Last month, Udi Bar Oz, the director of Ben Gurion Airport, convened a meeting involving over 120 representatives of international companies. The objective of this gathering was to encourage and facilitate the resumption of their flights to Israel.
British Airways will be resuming operations from April 1. A BA spokesperson told Express.co.uk: “We have taken the commercial decision to move Tel Aviv to our short-haul network when we restart our flights on April 1.
“This aligns these flights with other similar length flights we operate, and we will keep this decision under review.”
The airline company will initially start off with four flights per week. Customers already booked on flights to and from Tel Aviv will be contacted and offered the option to rebook onto a new short-haul flight, request a refund or re-book onto an alternative service
Wizz Air has resumed flights from Luton to Israel, along with connections from Budapest, Larnaca, Milan, Rome, Sofia, and Warsaw.
El Al, Israel’s national airline, has maintained relatively uninterrupted service between London and Tel Aviv. El Al operates a full-service, long-haul configured Boeing 787 from Heathrow and a low-cost Boeing 737 link from Luton.
According to a report by Airlive, Lufthansa will offer four weekly flights from Frankfurt, and three weekly flights from Munich to and from Tel Aviv.
The group’s airlines will offer a total of 20 weekly connections to and from Tel Aviv said the company, which also owns the Austrian Airlines and Swiss.
The airline will provide five direct weekly flights between Zurich and Tel Aviv, operating on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday utilizing A320neo aircraft.
Austrian Airlines will offer eight weekly connections through Vienna. Air France has announced the suspension of its flights until January 20, 2024.
Ryanair has extended its flight restriction measures until January 31, 2024, citing operational limitations beyond its control.
Meanwhile, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines have both cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv through March 29, 2024. Delta stated it is continuing to assess the conditions associated with this particular service.
Since the commencement of hostilities, six international airlines have consistently operated regular flights to Ben Gurion Airport. These include Etihad, Fly Dubai, Hainan, and Azimut, alongside Israeli carriers.
