Israel seeks to reverse EU’s advice to avoid its skies as foreign carriers nix flights
After briefly resuming services to Tel Aviv, many European airlines suspend their flights for longer periods, leaving Israelis stranded abroad with local airlines fully booked
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel.
Efforts by Israeli officials to put pressure on Europe’s aviation regulator to reverse its guidance to avoid Israeli airspace for the coming month might be a case of too little, too late. That’s as a majority of foreign airlines are scrapping their services to the country for an extended period, leaving tens of thousands of Israelis stranded overseas and others unable to go on holidays.
The European Commission and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a warning over the weekend “not to operate within the airspaces of Lebanon and Israel at all flight levels,” citing “an overall intensification of air strikes and degradation in the security situation.”
Israel’s Transportation Minister Miri Regev, together with the Civil Aviation Authority, have been holding talks with EASA officials in recent days to try and convince the European agency to cancel the warning regarding Israeli airspace.
The recommendations came as Israel has stepped up strikes on Hezbollah in recent days, culminating in a massive strike on the terror group’s underground headquarters in southern Beirut which killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top terror commanders. The Iran-backed group responded with barrages of rockets and missiles at Israel.
Iran on Tuesday night launched an 181-strong ballistic missile attack on Israel, during which Israel closed its airspace for about an hour, Hebrew media reported, with Ben Gurion Airport reopening shortly after the attack.
“There is no logic or reason behind this step, so I truly believe it had much to do with political circumstances,” Yossi Fatael, head of the Israel Incoming Tour Operators Association, told The Times of Israel, speaking prior to the Iranian attack. “Until recently, all of the aviation authorities were in contact with our aviation authority, and they gave the airlines the autonomy to make their own decisions.”
“Now the impact is very clear: In many ways, it supports our enemies, as around 30,000 Israelis are stuck abroad. Nobody can leave the country for the upcoming Jewish holiday month. And Jewish people from around the world who were planning to travel to Israel for the holidays had their flights canceled and many can’t come, which is another blow and a big loss especially for the tourism industry,” Fatael added.
Israel has insisted that its airspace is safe and Israeli airlines have continued operations as usual. El Al Israel Airlines, which announced that all of its flights in the coming days are fully booked, recommended that stranded Israelis abroad travel to nearby destinations Athens or Larnaca and register on the waiting list for flights back to Israel. The local flag carrier has been adding flights from Athens and Larnaca to help Israelis travel back home.
Flight disruptions have been prevalent for almost a year since the outbreak of war in Gaza began in the aftermath of the Hamas-led onslaught on October 7, with foreign airlines canceling services in periods when geopolitical tensions have escalated.
War erupted when Hamas sent thousands of terrorists from Gaza into southern Israel, where they carried out an unprecedented rampage, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251. Since the outbreak of the fighting, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis.
“For foreign airlines, flying to Israel is one of the most profitable routes to operate because of the high prices, and that’s why we see them stopping and then resuming flights [rather than canceling for long periods altogether]. End even when the crew doesn’t want to stay in Israel, they are doing a stopover in Larnaca,” said Fatael. “However, now, with the European decision, there is concern that some foreign airlines will not fly because no insurance will cover them.”
Fears over an escalation of the ongoing fighting with the Hamas terror group into an all-out-war at the end of August had prompted dozens of foreign airlines again to halt their services to Israel. After an almost month-long pause and ahead of the upcoming Jewish high holidays in October, a peak period of travel, most European airlines and other foreign carriers, apart from US airlines, had recently slowly restarted operations to and from Israel, albeit with reduced flight frequencies, before the EU advice was issued.
Revital Ben Natan, CEO of Ofakim Travel and Tours, said that since the European aviation regulator’s recommendation there has been a domino effect as more and more foreign airlines extend their suspensions of flights to Israel.
“Up until now, most foreign airlines canceled flights for a defined, short period of sometimes only one or two days, but now many are suspending flights for longer periods and into next year,” said Ben Natan.
Among European airlines canceling their routes to Israel over the past couple of days is the Lufthansa group, which includes Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, which is extending the stoppage of services until October 31, as well as ITA Airways; British Airways has suspended services until October 7; Iberia until October 4,; and Air France until Oct. 8. Low-cost Transavia canceled flights to and from Tel Aviv until the end of March, 2025.
UK carrier Virgin Atlantic, which was scheduled to restart its flights to Tel Aviv from London on September 25 after a one-year hiatus following the outbreak of the Gaza war, announced that it would not resume services until March 30, 2025.
Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair has canceled flights to Israel until the end of October and easyJet has suspended the route until March 2025. Other airlines that stopped services to Israel are Air India, Turkish Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and Air Canada, as well as US carriers.
“There is a sense of the foreign airlines thinking, ‘Why deal with Israel?’ when they can reposition their aircraft elsewhere like London or Shanghai,” said Mark Feldman, CEO of Ziontours Jerusalem.
Among foreign airlines that were operating flights to Tel Aviv as of early Tuesday were TUS Airways, flydubai, Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Ethiopian Airlines.
“Larnaca and Athens have become an Israeli hub but since there are almost no seats, stranded passengers have been rebooking via flights connecting in Dubai to travel back to Tel Aviv,” said Ben Natan.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
