Lufthansa group to resume flights to Israel Thursday after month-long pause
Other airlines have already restarted operations to and from Tel Aviv in the wake of limited flareup between Hezbollah and Israel last week
Germany’s Lufthansa will resume its flights to Tel Aviv from Thursday, according to an update from the company, one of a number of airlines to have altered their schedules amid fears of an escalation in the conflict.
The airline had announced in early August that it was suspending flights to the Israeli city, repeatedly extending the suspension measures until, and including, September 4.
The other airlines in the Lufthansa Group, which include Swiss, Austrian, and Brussels Airlines as well as Eurowings, were also set to resume operations to and from Israel on Thursday.
Lufthansa said in an emailed statement late Monday that its flights to the Lebanese capital, Beirut, would remain suspended up to and including September 30.
Flight disruptions have been prevalent for 11 months since the war in Gaza began, with foreign airlines canceling flights in periods when tensions have escalated.
The vast majority of international airlines canceled their flights to and from Israel last week as Israel launched a preemptive strike on hundreds of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon to thwart an attack the terrorist organization was planning in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of its military leader Fuad Shukr.
Hezbollah still managed to fire hundreds of rockets and some 20 drones at Israel in the aftermath of the latter’s strike.
In the week and a half since, Aegean, Air France, British Airways, and Iberia renewed their flights to and from Tel Aviv, with Lot planning to do so on Tuesday and ITA set to renew its flights on Wednesday.
Air Baltic is scheduled to restart flights to Israel next week, and Ryanair and Delta are set to do the same at the end of October.
Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza was triggered by a shock assault by the group’s terrorists on October 7 in which they murdered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
