British Airways suspends all Israel flights until March 2025 amid escalation fears
UK airline joins a slew of foreign carriers canceling flights to Ben Gurion Airport in recent weeks; Israeli airlines continue operating, except for brief halt on Monday afternoon
British Airways announced on Monday that it is suspending its flights to Tel Aviv until the end of March next year, amid heightened fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and as tensions rise in the Middle East.
“This will give greater certainty to our customers who we’re contacting to advise them of their options, including a full refund,” a spokesperson for British Airways said in an emailed statement.
The UK flag carrier joins an array of foreign airlines that have recently extended their flight cancellations to Israel. Last week, low-cost airline Wizz Air nixed all its flights to and from Israel until January 15 and Delta Airlines said it was extending its cancellation of all routes to Israel through at least the end of March.
Foreign airlines have repeatedly canceled their flights to and from Israel in the past year amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, tensions with Hezbollah and two missile attacks on Israel by Iran in April and October.
The cancellations have been especially common in recent months, as Israel escalated its response to Hezbollah’s near-daily rocket and drone attacks — including on central Israel — and came under the second attack from Iran, in which the Islamic Republic launched some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, forcing it to close its airspace for a couple of hours.
Air Europa, Air France, RyanAir and ITA Airways are scheduled to renew their flights to and from Israel next week. They are set to be joined by Iberia, Bulgaria Air, Air Baltic, the Lufthansa Group and Lot the following week.
Israeli airlines, namely El Al, Arkia and Israir, have all continued flying to and from Israel throughout the war, only cancelling flights when Ben Gurion Airport or Israeli airspace closes.
On Monday afternoon, the airport briefly halted take-offs and landings following orders from Israel’s security apparatus. The orders were in place for less than 30 minutes, and following the resumption of operations the IDF announced that helicopters and fighter jets intercepted and shot down five drones over the Mediterranean Sea.
The drones were shot down before entering Israeli airspace, the army said, adding that there were no further fears of a security incident at Ben Gurion Airport.
