Fearing reprisals European airlines cancel Israel flights

French national airline Air France has announced the cancellation of its flights to Israel until September 20, after initially announcing the cancellation of flights to Tel Aviv until September 19 following the explosions of communication devices in Lebanon.

The Lufthansa Group, including Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, has cancelled flights until September 19, and Dutch low-cost carrier Transavia has cancelled its flight to Tel Aviv today and there are fears that more airlines will cancel flights.

The cancellations come after Hezbollah said it held Israel responsible for yesterday’s explosions in Lebanon, which killed at least eight people and wounded 3,000 others, according to the country’s health ministry. Hezbollah said its response would come from an unexpected direction.

Some airlines have yet to resume flights, having halted them in late July following the assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in Tehran and Beirut, including Ryanair, EasyJet, Delta, American Airlines and United Airlines.

Air France quickly resumed flights and has been operating since then, while the Lufthansa Group suspended flights throughout August and only resumed flights to Israel in early September. The Lufthansa Group recently announced that it will increase the number of flights to and from Israel from September 30, assuming the security situation remains stable.

This article was published in Globes, Israeli Business News – en.globes.co.il – on September 18, 2024.

© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.