From the Liveblog of
Friday, September 26, 2025
El Al, Israir to send rescue flights to Romania for stranded Hasidic pilgrims
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel
El Al and Israir announce that they will operate special rescue flights to bring back hundreds of Israeli pilgrims stranded in Romania who had traveled to the small central Ukrainian city of Uman as part of an annual pilgrimage.
Hundreds of Israeli Jews, mainly Hasidim, who made their way back from Uman via Tulcea in Romania in recent days, are stranded without the possibility of returning to Israel due to congestion and significant delays at border crossings that led to the cancellation of their flights with foreign airlines, El Al says in a statement.
On Saturday evening, after Shabbat ends, El Al expects to operate a 300-seat aircraft from Bucharest to Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion airport. The decision was made after a discussion with Shas Chairman MK Aryeh Deri, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, to facilitate the return of Israelis to the country.
Starting Sunday morning, Israir plans to operate three flights with seat availability to bring back 540 passengers from the airports in Bacau and Bucharest in Romania to Israel.
Every year, tens of thousands of Jews head to Uman from all around the world to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (1772-1810) for Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year — celebrated this year on September 23-24.
The Times of Israel Community.