Lufthansa to resume flights to Tel Aviv from Jan 8; Austrian and Swiss airlines to follow suit

German airline group Lufthansa says it plans to resume flights to Tel Aviv from January 8 after the service was suspended after Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.

The group’s airlines will initially “offer a total of 20 weekly connections to and from Tel Aviv,” Lufthansa says in a statement. “This corresponds to around 30 percent of the regular flight schedule.”

Lufthansa Airlines will offer connections from Frankfurt and Munich, while Austrian Airlines and SWISS will also restart the service.

The Lufthansa group halted flights to Israel on October 9, citing security concerns after Hamas militants carried out an unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7.

Other airlines including British Airways, Air France-KLM and US airline Delta also cut flights to Tel Aviv in the wake of the attack.

In addition, Lufthansa suspended flights to and from the Lebanese capital Beirut on October 13 as tensions in the region soared.

An aircraft of the United States of America stands behind an aircraft of Swiss airline Etihad Regional, at Geneva airport, Switzerland, January 17, 2016.(Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

Flights to Beirut were resumed on Friday by Lufthansa and its subsidiaries SWISS and Eurowings, the group adds.

“The Lufthansa group continues to monitor the security situation in Israel closely and is in close contact with the local and international authorities,” the statement says.

“Possible flight schedule adjustments must be expected due to changing conditions.”