French airline Air France announced on Tuesday it canceled all its flights to and from Tel Aviv scheduled for Wednesday, citing the potential for escalating violence in the region. The cancellations affect two flights, one in each direction.
The announcement came after thousands of pagers belonging to Hezbollah operatives exploded simultaneously across Lebanon, killing at least nine people.
Later, the Lufthansa Group announced the cancellation of all flights to and from Ben Gurion Airport through Thursday, citing escalating regional tensions. The German aviation group resumed flights to and from Israel this month.
The affected airlines within the group include Lufthansa Airlines, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings. Lufthansa is also offering passengers impacted by the cancellations the option to cancel their tickets at no cost or rebook their flights.
Last week, British airline Virgin Atlantic announced it will resume flights to Israel from London starting September 25. The airline, which suspended its flights to Israel on October 11, will operate daily flights, seven days a week, using wide-body aircraft with three service classes: Economy, Premium and Upper Class (business class with lie-flat seats).
Flights from London to Tel Aviv will include a 90-minute stop in Larnaca for crew changes, while flights from Tel Aviv to London will operate non-stop. The airline also said that, together with its codeshare agreement with El Al, Virgin Atlantic now offers up to four daily flights to London Heathrow. Through its partnership with the SkyTeam Alliance, Virgin Atlantic flights connect to hundreds of global destinations.
Meanwhile, Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair announced this month it will not resume flights to Israel until at least the end of October. Ryanair had suspended all flights to Israel in early August due to the security situation following the assassinations of senior Hezbollah and Hamas officials in Beirut and Tehran. The airline had planned to resume flights in October but extended the cancellations until October 26, with no clear timeline for resuming service.
Polish national carrier LOT Polish Airlines and Italy's ITA Airways also resumed flights to Israel this month.
Several other airlines have also resumed operations in Israel in recent weeks, including British Airways, Air France, Aegean Airlines, Iberia Express, Wizz Air, Ethiopian Airlines, Corendon and Tarom.
However, many airlines continue to suspend flights to Israel. India's national carrier, Air India, has announced it will not resume flights to Israel until October 24.
Delta Air Lines said its flight cancellations from New York to Israel will continue until October 31. United Airlines announced it will not resume flights to Israel until further notice, and American Airlines said it will not fly to Israel until the end of March 2025.
Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling announced it will not return until October 26, and Croatia Airlines has suspended flights to Israel indefinitely.
EasyJet, which halted flights to Israel after October 7, has said it will not resume flights to Tel Aviv until April 2025. The airline said that customers who booked tickets for flights between October 27, 2024, and March 29, 2025, will be offered options, including a full refund.
Latvian national carrier Air Baltic resumed flights to Israel this week, while KLM announced it would resume service to Israel on October 27.