Travelers consult an information board on flights departing from Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, on October 7, 2023 in Israel (AFP/GIL COHEN-MAGEN)
The Israeli company El Al said it was maintaining its flights on Sunday while multiple airlines announced cancellations of flights to and from Tel Aviv this weekend, in the wake of Hamas’ military offensive on Israel.
Here is the main information available on Sunday morning.
– EL AL
El Al has not canceled its own flights, a spokesperson for the company confirmed to AFP, which is maintaining its regular flights. Only a few flights operated by foreign companies in cooperation with El Al, to Prague or Warsaw, were canceled.
But it is possible that El Al decides to cancel certain flights to send more planes to certain cities. “We could cancel flights to destinations where there are few Israelis, in order to help Israelis elsewhere,” explains the El Al spokesperson.
The Israeli company indicated on its website Sunday morning that it was acting on instructions from Israeli security forces, and that all departures were from Terminal 3 of Ben Gurion Airport. El Al allows its customers, like many other companies since Saturday, to change their tickets free of charge if they wish to delay or advance their return to Israel, or postpone a trip.
-Lufthansa
The German group, Europe’s leading carrier, is canceling its flights to and from Tel Aviv until Monday inclusive due to “the security situation”, a spokesperson told AFP on Saturday evening.
The Belgian company Brussels Airlines, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, announced the same decision.
The company says it is “ready to cooperate with the authorities to organize repatriations or relief flights”.
The situation is “very unpredictable”, explained a spokesperson to AFP.
A new update will be made Monday morning to consider the future.
– Air France-KLM
“In coordination with the French General Directorate of Civil Aviation and the Israeli authorities, Air France is suspending its service to Tel Aviv until further notice,” a spokesperson for the company told AFP, which ensures usually two flights per day to Tel Aviv.
“Commercial measures are in place, allowing customers to postpone or cancel their trip free of charge,” he said.
Transavia, the “low cost” of the Air France-KLM group, announced in a press release that it would cancel all its flights to Tel Aviv until Monday inclusive.
“Transavia France cancels its flights to Tel Aviv and departing from Paris Orly and Lyon Saint Exupéry on Sunday October 8 (2 flights from Paris Orly) and Monday October 9 (3 flights from Paris Orly and 1 flight from Lyon Saint Exupéry)”, the company said.
-Iberia
The Spanish company indicated on social networks that its low-cost subsidiary Iberia Express was canceling its flights to or from Tel Aviv on Saturday “due to the situation in Israel”.
– ITA Airways
The Italian company announced on X that it had canceled its flights to and from Tel Aviv until Sunday morning “to preserve the safety of passengers and crew.”
– BATCH
The Polish company said it had canceled its flights linking the Polish capital to Tel Aviv on Saturday “due to the situation in Israel”. She did not provide information on the coming days.
-Aegean
The Greek company Aegean Airlines announced on
-Swiss
The Swiss airline announced that it would suspend its flights to Tel Aviv from Saturday evening until further notice.
After a thorough and ongoing review of the current security situation, Swiss continued to operate flights from Zurich to Tel Aviv and Tel Aviv to Zurich at midday on Saturday, the company told Keystone-ATS.
-Austrian Airlines
The Austrian company announced to AFP that it was canceling all flights to and from Tel Aviv until Monday and was “continuously evaluating the situation”.
– Wizz Air
The Hungarian company announced on its website that it would cancel all its flights to and from Israel this Sunday, indicating that it will communicate in due time on the connections for the following days.
– Air Canada
The Canadian company suspended its flights to Tel Aviv, from Toronto and Montreal for 48 hours from Sunday, the Canadian government announced.
© 2023 AFP
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