Lufthansa Group is to extend its suspension of flights to Tel Aviv, Israel, until at least 15 December 2024, the company has announced.
The move by Lufthansa, which also affects partners Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and SWISS, is a result of the ongoing regional violence and the airline’s duty to priotitise the safey of its passengers and crews, it said. Fellow Lufthansa Group member Eurowings meanwhile, will not be flying to Israel until the end of November 2024 at the earliest.
Empty departure and arrivals boards
Nearly all international airlines suspended or cancelled operations to Israel in the weeks and months after the war between Hamas and the state of Israel broke out in early October 2023, to the extent that Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport has ceased using one of its terminals for international flights. As other actors, such as Lebanon and Iran, have become increasingly drawn into military exchanges, flights to Beirut and Tehran have also been withdrawn from the market.
American Airlines, which has imposed the longest suspension on flights to Tel Aviv so far, announced last month that it was extending that ban until September 2025, sparking predictions that other airlines would soon follow suit. As anticipated, Virgin Atlantic Airways said on 10 November 2024 that it would not be restarting services to Israel until October 2025. However, the airline said the delayed resumption was due to a lack of supply of Rolls-Royce engines.
15 airlines warn that suspensions are set to continue
Other airlines remain focused on the security situation, with one group of 15 carriers said to include airlines as diverse as British Airways, Delta, Wizz Air and Easyjet, issuing a joint position paper to the Knesset Economics Affairs Committee. The signatories warned that their flight suspensions are set to continue due to the current regulatory regime which imposes costs and obligations on air companies who make cancellations with less than 14-days notice.
The situation in the Middle East is so volatile, the airlines say, they cannot re-open schedules and allow passengers to book onto flights as their liabilities are too high in the likely (given the current outlook in the conflict) event of a cancellation. With so few airlines operating in the region, other than Israeli carriers Arkia, El Al and Israir, plane ticket prices are rocketing and this means the knock-on costs of a cancellation, such as finding flyers alternative air transport, are exacerbated.
In other words, it’s cheaper for airlines to wipe whole schedules in advance and “provide certainty” to their customers, as the phrase goes, than it is for them to take the risk of the need for sudden stoppages.
