BEVERLY HILLS, May 13, (THEWILL) – International flights to Israel have begun giving the country a wide berth in the midst of hostilities between the state and its neighbour Palestine.
Several airlines on Thursday announced flight suspensions to and from the country of a little over 9 million.
The development arose from the escalating violence between Israel and Palestine as protests and airstrikes continued to rock the region.
Several airlines, including KLM, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Lufthansa Aeroflot, Iberia, US airlines and the Polish LOT, have announced the suspension of flight operations to the region.
Dutch airline, KLM, has halted flights to Israel for the time being, Dutch public broadcaster NOS said.
A flight from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport that was postponed earlier in the week due to the violence has been cancelled for good; and KLM is deciding whether a flight due on Sunday can go ahead, NOS said.
On its part, British Airways cancelled services to and from Tel Aviv on Thursday and Virgin Atlantic also did the same for Thursday and Friday.
Both airlines said they are monitoring the situation closely.
Also, Germany’s flag carrier cancelled flights for Thursday and Friday, adding: “Lufthansa expects to resume its flight operations to Israel beginning Saturday, May 15.”
Aeroflot has also cancelled its Moscow-Tel Aviv flight for Friday but did not specify if others would be cancelled in the coming days.
Added to the list is the Spanish airline, Iberia, which cancelled its flight from Madrid to Tel Aviv for Thursday and Friday-Saturday’s return leg.
An Iberia spokeswoman told AFP: “We will take further decisions based on the evolution of the situation.”
The United States that operates 18 flight weekly to Israel, said it was suspending operations.
Delta and American Airlines also confirmed they had suspended services between New York and Tel Aviv.
Also, Polish airline, LOT, said it had “suspended flights to Israel for the moment.”
Spokesman Krzysztof Moczulski added: “I suppose that we will not be flying there in the coming days.”
More than 80 people in Gaza and eight people in Israel have been killed since the fighting began on Monday.
Hamas militants launched dozens of rockets at Israel again on Thursday, a day after Israeli airstrikes killed senior commanders and destroyed a multi-story building in Gaza.
Israel has moved troops towards the Gaza border to prepare for “all eventualities and an escalation.”
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