El Al adds flights from nearby Greece and Cyprus to help stranded Israelis
Airline and its subsidiary Sun Dor, as well as local carrier Arkia, operate additional flights from Athens and Larnaca as major foreign airlines cancel services to Tel Aviv
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel.
El Al Israel Airlines and other local carriers are adding flights from nearby destinations such as Greece and Cyprus to help Israelis stranded overseas to travel back home after most foreign carriers suspended their routes to Tel Aviv over the imminent threat of an all-out war with Iran.
“El Al is making every effort to respond to the needs of the public to keep the airspace between Israel and the world open and help Israelis stranded abroad following the cancellation of flights by foreign companies,” Israel’s flag carrier said in an e-mailed response.
Some 150,000 Israelis are believed to be stranded abroad due to major foreign airlines’ suspensions of flights to and from Israel, according to reports in the Hebrew press. El Al said that its efforts in recent days to bring Israelis home, which included additional flights and the operation of larger aircraft on existing flights, increased the number of seats to and from Israel by about 8,000 seats since last Thursday.
The slew of canceled flights comes as Iran has vowed to retaliate and attack Israel following last week’s back-to-back assassinations of Hezbollah military chief Fuad Shukr in Beirut by an Israeli strike and Hamas terror group leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Iran has blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s death, for which Israel has not taken responsibility.
Israel’s flag carrier this week increased its flight schedule between Tel Aviv and Athens in Greece and Larnaca in Cyprus adding seven one-way flights over the last few days. The added new flights are offered at a flat price of $228 from Larnaca and $283 from Athens to passengers who had their tickets canceled by another airline and who seek to fly one-way back to Israel. Arkia Israel Airlines has also added flights from Athens and Larnaca to Tel Aviv this week.
Airfares for Israelis during the peak summer period have skyrocketed as most Israelis were not booking ahead of time, while demand for nearby locations such as Greece and Cyprus has soared due to the ongoing war with Hamas, which broke out in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre by the Iran-backed terror group.
El Al said that in the coming days, it will continue to expand flight routes, given the security situation. On Thursday, two additional flights are scheduled to depart from Larnaca that will be operated by El Al subsidiary Sun Dor.
Earlier this week, El AL introduced a flexible cancellation policy to better accommodate the needs of its customers. Passengers who booked flights for departure between August 1 and August 17 that were issued before August 4 can cancel their tickets without cancellation fees in exchange for a full voucher for future use for El Al flights. The vouchers can be redeemed until December 31, 2025, the carrier said.
Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair and UK’s Easyjet are the latest low-cost carriers to extend the cancelation of flights to and from Tel Aviv. Easyjet will suspend services through March 29, 2025. The UK carrier will offer a full refund to customers who bought tickets for flights between October 27 and March 29.
Germany’s Lufthansa group, which owns Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and Swiss, said Monday it was canceling flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut and Tehran through August 12. US carrier Delta extended the suspension of its Tel Aviv route through the end of the month, and United Airlines scrapped the route until further notice.
Meanwhile, Wizz Air resumed flights on Tuesday. Flights on the Hungarian budget carrier had been canceled through Monday. Other airlines that have for the time being continued to fly to Tel Aviv are Blue Bird Airways, Air France and British Airways.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
