Dozens of airlines cancel Tel Aviv flights

A rescuer walks in front of a damaged shop in Tel Aviv, after it was hit by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise large-scale attack against Israel on October 7, firing thousands of rockets from Gaza and sending fighters to kill or abduct people as Israel retaliated with devastating air strikes. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Published on:

07 Oct 2023, 19:23

Major airlines cancelled flights to Tel Aviv this weekend after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise large-scale attack against Israel.

On the arrivals board at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport Air France, Lufthansa, Emirates, Ryanair, Aegan Airlines and some US companies were all pulling flights.

However airport authorities did not stop commercial air links with Eilat, Israel's second international airport and tourist destination on the Red Sea.

"Given the current security situation in Tel Aviv," Lufthansa maintained a single flight back to Frankfurt, said a spokesman for the German carrier, but "all other Lufthansa flights to and from Tel Aviv have been cancelled for this Saturday".

Air France said it had halted Tel Aviv flights s a day "until further notice".

Air France-KLM group's low-cost carrier Transavia also cancelled a flight from Paris to Tel Aviv on Saturday evening.

Israel