Three airlines that have maintained their schedules fairly steadily over the past few months have cancelled their flights for the next twenty-four hours: Wizz Air, British Airways, and AZAL (Azerbaijan Airlines). Wizz Air stated: "The company has decided on a temporary suspension (September 24) of routes to Tel Aviv and Amman. The company continues to monitor the situation closely and is in touch with all the relevant agencies."
Since resuming service to Israel, these three airlines have temporarily suspended flights in previous waves of cancellations, but mostly restored flights quickly, after just a few days. Popular low-cost airline Wizz Air resumed activity in Israel in March, and since then has only cancelled flights occasionally.
AZAL also returned to flying to Israel in March, and remained impressively stable until the wave of cancellations in August, when it froze operations for a few days. British Airways renewed flights to Israel in April, adding a stop to change crews in Larnaka, to ease the fears of crew members anxious about staying in Israel.
Ben Gurion Airport operating normally
Last night, Lufthansa Group, which includes Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings, announced the cancellation of flights to Israel until October 14 (inclusive), after a situation assessment. It is thus foregoing flights during the high-demand Jewish holiday period, which is usually highly profitable for airlines flying to Israel. Polish airline LOT has cancelled its flights for today and tomorrow. Last week, Air France and ITA cancelled flights to Israel but have since resumed operations. US airline Delta has announced the extension of its suspension of flights until the end of 2024.
Despite the security tensions, some 51,900 passengers are expected to pass through Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport today, on 310 departing and arriving international flights. The Israel Airports Authority recommends monitoring the up-to-date flight schedules on its website and on the websites of the airlines.
The Israel Airports Authority said, "Given the changes by some of the foreign airlines and their decisions to suspend and/or reduce flights to Israel, those departing from Israel should take into account that there may be changes and should keep in touch with the airlines and obtain up=to-date information about their flights."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 24, 2024.
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