Three airlines cancel flights to Israel amid regional tensions

Sunday 10th November 2024 11:18 AM

AA / Jerusalem / Zein Khalil

Three major European airlines have canceled flights to and from Israel due to rising regional tensions, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

Italian airline ITA Airways announced that all flights to and from Israel will be suspended until January 12, the “Israel Hayom” newspaper reported.

ITA Airways is the only Italian airline operating regularly in Israel.

French airline Air France also extended the suspension of all its flights to Israel until December 26.

Air France until now extended the cancellation of its flights every week, but has now decided to suspend it for a period of almost 45 days.

The airline had initially canceled its flights for the period until November 12, but has now extended this period.

Greek airline Aegean Airlines also announced that it would not resume flights to Israel before December 3, according to the daily.

In recent days, several other European carriers have canceled flights to Israel or extended their suspensions due to escalating regional tensions.

Spanish airline Iberia on Wednesday canceled its flights to Israel until the end of November, following a missile strike from Lebanon that landed near a parking lot at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

For its part, American Airlines has removed all flights to Israel from its system until September 2025.

Several other international airlines, including Virgin and Delta, have canceled flights to Israel until spring 2025.

Regional tensions have escalated due to Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 43,500 people, mostly women and children, since last year.

The conflict has spread to Lebanon, with Israel launching deadly strikes across the country, in an escalation after a year of mutual bombing between Israel and Hezbollah immediately after the genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023.

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