News

Airlines suspend flights to Israel

23 Jul 2014 by Tom Otley

Airlines across Europe and the US have temporarily suspended flights to Tel Aviv after the FAA issued a statement banning all US carriers from flying to Israel.

The move came after a rocket hit an area less than a mile away from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel's main entry port.

The ban will be in effect for 72 hours at first, but will be extended if the situation around the airport does not markedly improve in the days to come.

Affected are Delta and American Airlines daily services into Tel Aviv. Following the announcement, a Delta B747-400 en route from JFK was rerouted mid-flight and landed safely at Paris Charles de Gaulle.

European carriers Lufthansa, Air France KLM and Easyjet all suspended their services last night.

Easyjet said in a statement: "Due to the FAA's instruction to all United States' airlines to suspend their flights to Israel, Easyjet is suspending its services to and from Tel Aviv for 24 hours and as a result will not be operating Luton-Tel Aviv-Luton and Basel-Tel Aviv-Basel flights on Wednesday July 23.

"Thereafter, Easyjet will review its operations to and from Israel on a day by day basis, taking into account the advice from all relevant authorities."

Israel has criticised the decision.

In reply to a question from David Byers, The Times' foreign news editor, BA last night tweeted:

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