Airlines around the globe canceled their routes to Israel and started steering clear of a large region nearby.
Middle Eastern
airspace on Friday, following overnight missile strikes by Israel on Iran and a subsequent drone launch by Iran targeting Israel.
According to
CNBC
,
Delta Air Lines
The company declared on Friday afternoon that it would halt its operations to Tel Aviv until at least September—a move taken just a short time after resuming services on May 20th. Up until last week, the carrier was looking forward to increasing frequencies for its New York–Tel Aviv route with plans of operating two direct flights daily, based on what they described as “robust winter bookings.”
United Airlines
suspended its flights to Tel Aviv through at least Saturday. After Israel’s overnight strikes, both United and Delta turned their Tel Aviv-bound planes around mid-flight over the Atlantic, redirecting them back to the
New York
According to an official statement, United facilitated the return of 26 stranded crew members from Israel to the U.S. by arranging their flight with Israel’s national airline.
El Al
. However, El Al has since suspended its operations.
“Following recent security developments and in accordance with the instructions from the state’s security and aviation authorities to close Israeli airspace, all EL AL and Sundor flights are suspended for the time being,” the airline stated on its website. The company said it would not accept new bookings through at least the end of June and advised travelers not to come to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.
“For customers currently abroad, we recommend arranging accommodation until there is a change in security directives,” the carrier said. “Flights that were en route to Israel have been diverted to land at various EL AL destinations.”
Similarly, other international airlines took comparable actions. Both Turkish Airlines and the budget carrier Wizz Air from Europe decided to halt their flights to Israel. Deutsche Lufthansa, from Germany, also followed suit.
Lufthansa
has prolonged its suspension of services to Tel Aviv and Tehran until July 31, while flights to
Jordan
Lebanon has been removed from the schedule until at least June 20.
Emirates
It also terminated its flights from Dubai to multiple Middle Eastern locations such as Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iran.
In order to assist passengers impacted by changes, numerous carriers are providing exemptions from alteration charges and distributing travel vouchers.
Rising military tensions in the Middle East and Ukraine have compelled airlines to consistently choose longer, more expensive routes to steer clear of conflict areas.
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