Low-cost carrier Ryanair has announced the cancellation of all flights to and from Israel until at least 30 September. The announcement doesn’t come as a surprise, given developments in the Middle East since 28 July have prompted airlines from around the world to cancel flights in the region or to extend their no-flight policy.
Even though initially Ryanair had planned to operate flights between Ben Gurion Tel Aviv International Airport (TLV) in Israel and seven destinations, including Athens, Berlin, Budapest, Italy’s Bari and Milan, Malta and Cyprus, the Ireland-based airline has now decided to come back on that decision.
Ryanair said it would be cancelling flights from and to Ben Gurion Tel Aviv International Airport between 6 August and 30 September. “Operational restrictions which are beyond our control” were said to be at the basis of that cancellation. “Ryanair apologises for these cancellations, which are beyond our control, and passengers are advised to download the Ryanair app to check for the latest flight updates”, the airline commented in a statement.
Despite the fact that Israeli airport authorities have declared Ben Gurion Tel Aviv International Airport would remain functional, many airlines have decided to suspend their flights to and from the airport just like Ryanair. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, EasyJet, Turkish Airlines and Cathay Pacific are just some of the carriers not operating in Israel at the moment. Some airlines plan to resume flights later on this year, while others have made the decisions to postpone resuming their operations until 2025.
On the other hand, Israeli airlines El Al, Israir and Arkia declared they would continue their services from Ben Gurion Tel Aviv International Airport. If necessary, they are even prepared to add more flights to their schedule in order to make sure all Israeli citizens would be able to reach their destinations. El Al even indicated that during the second quarter of the year, its quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year profits increased. At the end of Q2, it posted a net profit of 147 million dollars and 839 million dollars in revenue.
