ALBAWABA - Amid the rise in unrest across the Middle East, British airline group, EasyJet, announced temporarily halting flights to Tel Aviv till October 27.
The low-cost airline group, headquartered at London Luton Airport, released a statement regarding halting their flights to Israel, "As a result of the continued evolving situation in Israel, easyJet has now taken the decision to suspend its flights to Tel Aviv for the remainder of the summer season".
The airline also announced that all passengers with flights heading to Tel Aviv will be offered a variety of options including full refunds. "Customers booked to fly on this route up to this date are being offered options including a full refund".
Meanwhile, the Hungarian low-cost carrier group Wizz Air announced it will resume on Tuesday after canceling services from Saturday to Monday. Wizz Air stated that passengers may encounter schedule modifications when flights began on Tuesday and that it was monitoring the situation.
Iran retaliated against Israel by launching more than 300 drones and missiles into Israel during the course of the night on Saturday and Sunday, following an Israeli airstrike that killed seven Revolutionary Guards in Damascus, Syria, which killed several, including two generals.
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed in a televised speech after Eid al-Fitr prayers in the capital that Israel "will be punished" for attacking the Iranian consulate in Syria.
Several other international airlines, including Air Canada, Delta, Iberia, and Lufthansa, also canceled flights to Tel Aviv on Sunday and Monday. Wizz Air and easyJet had recently resumed flights to Israel after suspending them following the Hamas attack on October 7.
On Sunday, the European Commission and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency encouraged carriers to exercise caution when flying in Israeli and Iranian airspace, as well as to avoid flying below a specific height above Iraq and Syria.
British Airways acknowledged that it operated a flight to Tel Aviv on Monday morning, but said it was keeping the situation under review. The airline resumed flights to Tel Aviv this month but had limited the frequency to four flights per week, with crew changes in Larnaca, Cyprus, so employees did not have to spend the night in Israel.
Virgin Atlantic suspended flights to Tel Aviv until September before the latest attacks, but the airline said it has now altered part of its routes to avoid Iranian and Israeli airspace.
