Major airlines cancel dozens of flights to Israel

American Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa, Emirates and Ryanair are among those pulling flights to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.

Passengers look at a departure board at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport as flights are cancelled on Saturday. Picture: AFP

Major airlines cancelled dozens of flights to Tel Aviv this weekend after Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel.

American Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa, Emirates and Ryanair are among those pulling flights to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. However, airport authorities did not stop commercial air links with Israel’s second international airport at Eilat, a tourist destination on the Red Sea.

And Israeli flag carrier El Al said on Sunday it was maintaining its Tel Aviv flights for now, though some flights operated by foreign partners had been cancelled.

Like most other airlines, it said clients could change their tickets without charge.

In Athens, the foreign ministry said it was working to repatriate 149 Greek tourists from Israel; 81 of them had been due to arrive back late on Sunday on an El Al flight.

Spain’s AENA airports operator said four of nine flights scheduled to Tel Aviv on Sunday had been cancelled, two from Madrid and two from Barcelona.

Spain’s Air Europa said it had cancelled its two flights scheduled between Madrid and Tel Aviv, while Iberia Express, the low-cost arm of national carrier Iberia, went ahead with a Madrid-Tel Aviv flight after suspending two on Saturday.

A spokesman for Germany’s Lufthansa cited “the current security situation” to say it was cancelling all flights to and from Tel Aviv “up until and including Monday”.

Air France said it had halted Tel Aviv flights “until further notice”.

Italy’s flag-carrier ITA airways had cancelled its flights until Sunday morning at the earliest “to protect the safety of passengers and crew”, while Polish carrier LOT scrapped all its flights from the Polish capital.

US-based United Airlines said its Tel Aviv flights “will remain suspended until conditions allow them to resume”.

Other airlines suspending flights included Aegean, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Wizz Air and Air Canada.

AFP