El Al halts Moscow route until April 1 after Russia apparently downs Azeri plane
Flagship carrier suspends its 5 weekly flights; says passengers stuck in Moscow can fly home to Israel from any destination in Europe at no additional cost, if they can get there
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel.
Israel’s flagship carrier El Al said Monday that it has decided to extend the suspension of its flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow through the end of March.
The move comes after El Al halted air traffic to and from Moscow last week, citing “developments in Russia’s airspace,” after Azeri officials said a passenger jet that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday had been downed by Russian air defenses.
“After conducting a comprehensive situation assessment, El Al is suspending all of its operations on the Tel Aviv-Moscow route until the end of the winter schedule,” El Al said in a statement. “The decision comes after ongoing dialogue with the authorities in the country to understand the situation.”
Amid complaints from Israelis who said they had been stranded in Moscow, El Al told The Times of Israel that passengers with a canceled ticket on the Moscow-Tel Aviv route would be able to fly home from any destination in Europe they are able to get to, at no additional cost.
A growing number of airlines have now suspended or reduced their routes to Russia, including UAE airline flydubai, Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air, and Azerbaijan Airlines, leaving very few options for air travel out of the country.
On Wednesday, Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 came down near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of some 70 people on board.
The passenger jet had flown hundreds of miles off its scheduled route from Azerbaijan’s Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s southern Chechnya region, when it crashed on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea. The plane had diverted from an area of Russia in which Moscow has used air defense systems against Ukrainian drone strikes in recent months.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized on Saturday to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for a “tragic incident” and acknowledged that air defenses had been used against Ukrainian drones. However, he stopped short of confirming that the plane was shot down.
Before the suspension, El Al was operating five weekday flights between Tel Aviv and Moscow.
The Israeli carrier is one of the last Western airlines to fly to Moscow following sanctions over Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Israel is home to about 1.3 million Russian speakers — about 13 percent of the general population — many of whom are Russian citizens and have family in Russia.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
