Sunday, August 4, 2024 Spanish airlines Iberia and Air Europa cancelled upcoming flights to Israel Saturday, joining a fast-growing list of carriers to suspend the route or cancel some flights. Israel remains braced for a large-scale attack by Iran and Hezbollah, amid fears of an escalating regional conflict. Iberia Express cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until Monday.
Air Europa’s daily flights to and from Israel are canceled from Sunday to Wednesday, though an outbound flight to Madrid would proceed as planned Saturday. The cancellations have left some 100,000 Israelis stranded abroad, a media reported, citing sources in the aviation industry. According to the report, people stuck overseas are advised to travel to Greece or Cyprus and catch a flight from there back to Israel.
National carrier El Al has not seen any disruptions to its schedule. The media news reported Saturday night that it was adding five flights to help bring home Israelis stranded overseas. The Foreign Ministry on Saturday published an online form to help provide assistance to the tens of thousands of Israelis stuck abroad with no way home due to the cancellations.
As of Saturday, at least 18 airlines have canceled flights to and from Israel, as Hezbollah and Iran have threatened to attack following the killings of top terror leaders. Below is an alphabetical list of airlines’ cancellations as of August 3 (cancellations could be extended further, based on developments): Aegean (Greece) — flights canceled through August 6 Air Europa (Spain) — flights canceled August 4-7 inclusive Air India (India) — flights canceled through August 8 Delta — flights canceled through August 3 Fly Dubai (United Arab Emirates) — flights canceled through August 3 Iberia Express (Spain) — flights canceled through August 4 ITA (Italy) — flights canceled through August 6 KLM (the Netherlands) — flights canceled through October 26 LOT (Poland) — flights canceled through August 5 Lufthansa Group (Germany) — flights canceled through August 9 (the group’s carriers include Swiss Air, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa Airlines and Eurowings) United Airlines (United States) — flights canceled through August 9 Vueling (Spain) — flights canceled through August 4 Wizz Air (Hungary) — flights canceled through August 4 A digital channel said later Saturday that Ethiopian Airlines has also cancelled its Tel Aviv flights. Meanwhile, the United States embassy in Lebanon on Saturday urged its citizens to depart Lebanon to book any ticket available to them, even if that flight does not depart immediately or does not follow their first-choice route.
The embassy added that citizens who choose to stay in Lebanon should arrange shelter in case of an emergency. British Foreign Minister David Lammy was still more pointed: “While we are working round the clock to strengthen our consular presence in Lebanon, my message to British nationals there is clear –- leave now,” he said in a statement. Air France and its low-cost Dutch affiliate Transavia said on Saturday that they were further extending their suspensions of flights between Paris and Beirut until at least August 6.
Flights to Tel Aviv will continue as usual, a spokesman told anther news agency. Israel’s Transportation Ministry said Friday that the security situation enables flights to and from Israel. Some of the foreign airlines are delaying or downsizing some of their flights to Israel for internal reasons said the ministry.
Passengers must take into account that their return will be delayed. Some airlines have also made sure to stay out of Iranian airspace since the assassination. Turkey’s state-owned a news agency reported Friday that Turkish Airlines was postponing its flights to Iran due to the Islamic Republic’s inflamed tensions with Israel.
Flights were said to resume Saturday morning. On Saturday, the Foreign Ministry opened an online form for Israelis stranded abroad “to centralize information and recommendations for citizens and their families who want to get to Israel.” The ministry added that filling out the form does not guarantee a flight back or any kind of funding.
Though Israeli airlines have continued flying, Arkia saw some cancellations of flights operated by foreign crews. One such cancellation left some 400 Israelis stranded in Prague for three days until being flown home on Friday. Civil Aviation Authority chief Shmuel Zakai said Thursday that Israel’s airspace “is absolutely safe,” adding that the United States Federal Aviation Administration and its European counterpart held the same assessment.
He said Israel would know when to close its airspace for safety reasons should the need arise. Many non-Israeli airlines stopped flights to and from Israel after the Gaza war broke out on October 7. Thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed the country’s south to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Most resumed after several months, though Israeli airspace was briefly closed in April when Iran launched an unprecedented direct strike on Israel..
