Major foreign airlines, including German carrier Lufthansa, France’s Air France, US carrier Delta and Hungary’s Wizz Air, on Sunday canceled their scheduled flights to Tel Aviv, after a ballistic missile from Yemen struck inside the grounds of Israel’s main airport, Ben Gurion International.
By Sunday late afternoon, only a few foreign airlines were still confirmed to be flying.
Among European airlines, the Lufthansa group — which also includes SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines — halted all flights to Ben Gurion Airport scheduled to depart on Sunday from Frankfurt, Vienna, Zurich and Munich, until Tuesday.
Wizz Air announced it was canceling its flights to Israel until Tuesday morning while “closely monitoring the situation.” Spanish airline Air Europa halted its scheduled flight departing from Madrid to Tel Aviv, citing “security reasons.”
Air France also nixed its Sunday flight services to Tel Aviv. TUS Airways halted flights to and from Cyprus through May 5. Air India canceled all flights to and from Tel Aviv until May 6 and British Airways until May 7.
ITA Airways said that “due to the current circumstances,” it has decided to suspend flights from Rome to Tel Aviv until May 7. Low-cost Irish carrier Ryanair informed passengers that it was “forced to cancel flights to and from Tel Aviv due to operational restrictions which are beyond our control.” LOT Polish Airlines called off all its flights until Tuesday, May 6.
Among US carriers, United Airlines suspended its twice-daily service between New York and Tel Aviv through May 8, as the carrier said it is assessing the situation.
“We will make decisions on resuming service with a focus on the safety of our customers and crews,” United said in an e-mail.
Delta Air Lines canceled its Sunday afternoon flight departing from New York’s JFK airport to Ben Gurion, adding that the “safety and security of our customers and crews is our No. 1 priority.”
Earlier in the day, Ben Gurion Airport temporarily halted takeoffs and landings following the launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen, several minutes before the projectile entered Israeli airspace. The IDF failed to intercept the missile, and it impacted inside the grounds of the airport, injuring six people. The airport was fully reopened about 30 minutes later.
“Unlike previous events in which the airport was closed for a short time, this time our travel agents are reporting fewer calls and more people who are unfazed about the situation,” said Ofakim Travel CEO Revital Ben Natan. “It is still difficult to determine the status of the operations of the airlines in Israel.”
“The fact that Ben Gurion International Airport returned to activity quickly brings back a sense of confidence; however, we may see international airlines that will take the next few days to monitor the situation,” Ben Natan added.
A few foreign airlines, including Ethiopian Airlines, flydubai, Iberia and Blue Bird Airways, on Sunday continued their flight services to and from Tel Aviv as scheduled, according to the Israel Airport Authority website.
