Israelis again isolated as airlines stay away: What will it take to woo them back?
Aviation experts are doubtful foreign carriers will resume flight services soon, unless the government restores confidence and amends cancellation compensation terms
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel
Israelis are again feeling isolated and grappling with the prospect of sky-high air travel costs, as the majority of foreign airlines are extending the cancellation of flights to and from the country, after a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis struck inside the grounds of Ben Gurion Airport on May 4.
Aviation industry experts believe many foreign carriers may not resume their flight services in the coming weeks, and possibly not even for the peak summer season, unless the Israeli government restores confidence in the safety of the country’s airspace and offers foreign airlines some flexibility and regulatory comfort regarding passenger compensation policies.
After the ballistic missile from Yemen impacted within the airport premises on Sunday, most foreign airlines canceled their routes servicing Israel’s main international airport. The Houthi missile impacted in a grove of trees alongside an access road close to Terminal 3, several hundred yards from the airport control tower.
“We are facing a situation where a missile that fell in Ben Gurion Airport could have just as easily fallen a little bit to the left or the right and could have hit an aircraft or a terminal, and that could have had a catastrophic effect,” Adv. Shirly Kazir, head of aviation & tourism practices at law firm FISCHER (FBC) told The Times of Israel. “So foreign airlines are obviously fearful, but even if airlines are willing to consider resuming flights to Israel when the situation calms down a bit, safety and the issue of pricing of insurance premiums come up once again.”
Kazir, who represents 20 foreign airlines operating in Europe and the US, said that the carriers want to resume flight services to Tel Aviv, but for that to happen, they will need more certainty and flexibility on the regulatory situation in Israel to ease costs and financial risk if they have to halt operations again because of the security situation.
“If it’s important for Israel to have the asset of foreign airlines flying to Israel, there are solutions the Transportation Ministry can advance that wouldn’t be too costly and that could make a shift in the airlines’ decision,” said Kazir, who has been representing foreign airlines in a proposal to make amendments to the 2012 Aviation Services Law, which protects consumer rights of passengers whose flights have been canceled.
After the rocket impact near the airport — which followed failed Israeli and American attempts to shoot it down — the Houthis boasted of their success and claimed that Ben Gurion Airport was “no longer safe for air travel.” The Yemen-based terror group threatened to “blockade” Israel’s airspace.
“The fact that a missile managed to infiltrate and hit around Ben Gurion Airport caused a lot of concern,” said Eyal Doron, partner and head of the aviation department at law firm S. Horowitz & Co. “Had it fallen someplace else, far away from the airport for example, in an open area in the Negev desert, I’m not sure it would have caused such substantive material reaction by foreign airlines.”
Initially, many foreign carriers suspended flights to Israel for short periods of a day or two, while monitoring the situation daily. But by the end of last week, the list of airlines deciding to stay away for longer expanded. Some foreign airlines are postponing their return for weeks or months and, in some cases, indefinitely.
In response, the Transportation Ministry said that the government and aviation authorities are continuously working with foreign airlines to bring them back and restore flight services.
As of now, the Lufthansa Group — which includes German carrier Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings — has said it will not resume flights to Tel Aviv until May 19. Air India, which operates a direct route between Israel and India, has suspended flights until May 25. US carriers United and Delta airlines have halted flights until May 18 and May 20 respectively. Iberia will not resume flights until June 1, and British Airways not until June 15.
Among low-cost airlines, Wizz Air canceled flights until May 14, and Ryanair until May 21. UK carrier Virgin Atlantic at the end of April ceased direct flight services between London and Tel Aviv, after previously pausing the route amid the war.
According to Kazir and Doron, recent flight suspensions by foreign airlines are based on similar considerations that have guided them throughout the war: safety considerations, risk management, insurance policy coverage and the refusal of flight crews to fly to Israel. They both cautioned that many foreign airlines halting their flight services will divert aircraft destined for Tel Aviv to other places, making it harder to resume service.
“If foreign airlines take their aircraft to a new route and a different destination, the chances of us getting them back for the summer period now are very low,” said Kazir. “Many clients I have, meaning foreign airlines, advise me in confidence that they are not resuming flights to Israel until the summer, which is horrific.”
Many of the airlines had only recently resumed services to Israel after they were canceled for much of the time since Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, that started the war in Gaza. United had resumed flights in March, while Delta returned on April 1, and British Airways restarted its Israel flights on April 5.
“Foreign airlines would like to fly to Israel, especially from a business point of view, as they’ve sold tickets [and] they don’t want August 2024 to happen again, faced with a situation where they have to deal with refunds and might again be sued by passengers,” said Doron.
“Under the current situation, when nothing is clear, as we do not know what’s going to happen even next week, the State of Israel needs to convince foreign airlines that its airspace is safe, the airport is safe, and what happened a week ago was a very exceptional issue… No system is perfect, no system can give you 100% protection,” she said.
With foreign carriers absent, the supply of flights low and demand high, ticket prices will surge again, Doron and Kazir warned. Of the dozens of foreign airlines that dominated the local aviation market before the outbreak of war in Gaza, primarily Israeli carriers have maintained regular flight schedules amid the war. In recent days, Emirates, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad, and flydubai also continued flying despite the Houthi attack.
“As foreign airlines cancel a flight, they already lose money because they can’t reallocate the airplane immediately, and then they have to refund passengers for the cost of the tickets or try to reroute them at a much higher cost — a monetary exposure they have faced throughout the war,” said Doron.
“Many foreign airlines only resumed their Israel services in March, to end up in a situation where a couple of weeks later, flights are being canceled again, and they are again hit with ticket refunds and compensation. It’s not sustainable for a long time.”
She warned that “if the disruptions go on for a long time, my concern is that some airlines could decide that they are not coming back.”
Earlier this year, Israeli lawmakers agreed to make legal changes to canceled flight compensation rights for air passengers to help ease the financial costs of disruptions to foreign carriers during the war period. The Knesset Economics Committee approved a proposal by foreign airlines to make amendments to the 2012 Aviation Services Law, which will restrict the terms and conditions of compensation paid by airlines to passengers in the event of flight cancellations during an emergency war period. The legal amendment was passed in a second and third reading in the Knesset in February.
Depending on the security situation, the Transportation Ministry, in consultation with the Economy Ministry, will be given the power and authority to temporarily suspend some of the compensation entitlements of consumers, such as limiting the obligation to provide accommodation in the event of a flight cancellation for up to two nights.
“If foreign airlines [knew] that they have that flexibility from the Israeli regulation, it would give them more comfort to resume flight services, but for that to kick in, Israel needs to declare a special emergency situation,” said Kazir.
“Foreign airlines want to know that they don’t sell flight tickets for ‘X’ amount, and then, in the case of cancellations, have to pay 10 times ‘X’.”
During an emergency period, an airline that cancels all of its flights will also have options to offer passengers an alternative ticket, either from a different point of departure or to a different nearby destination such as Larnaca or Athens.
“Airlines want to know that if they are not flying to Israel because of the security situation, they can bring passengers to nearby Cyprus or Greece instead of being exposed to massive costs that they would have to pay — to mostly Israeli airlines — to get passengers to their final destination in Tel Aviv,” said Kazir.
The Times of Israel Community.