About 70,000 passengers are at Tel Aviv airport, many trying to catch the last flights out of Israel, as more airlines suspend passenger and commercial flights to and from Tel Aviv, due to fears caused by the ever-escalating situation in the Middle East, according to Israeli media.
Many are afraid of further flight cancellations and that they will not be able to return to their countries.
In order to meet the increased needs of the traveling public served by Tel Aviv International Airport, the Israeli private company Arkia announced today that it will additional flights from Tel Aviv to Athens round trip for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, August 2 and 3, according to the Cyprus News Agency.
There are currently no flight cancellations or changes to the flight schedule of Cyprus airports, due to the situation in the Middle East region, Maria Kouroupi, director of Aviation Development and Communication of Hermes Airports, said today.
Lufthansa and Fly Dubai today became the latest airlines to join a long line of carriers canceling all passenger and commercial flights to and from Tel Aviv.
Which airlines are suspending flights
So far, according to Israeli TV network Channel 12, seven airlines have already suspended flights to Ben Gurion Airport until further notice.
These airlines are so far the Delta, United Airlines, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Fly Dubai and Air India.
The crew refused to continue the journey to Israel
The Cyprus News Agency highlighted that today’s Lufthansa flight LH682 which departed this morning from Munich with final destination Tel Aviv, eventually landed at Larnaca airport and the aircraft returned to Germany after the crew refused to continue the journey to Israel.
As Israeli public television reported, citing sources in the civil aviation service of Tel Aviv International Airport, the passengers of the flight had already been informed before take-off from Munich that the plane would make an intermediate landing in Larnaca “for a change of personnel”.
However, after landing in Cyprus, passengers were surprised to be informed by the plane’s pilot that Lufthansa does not grant permission to continue the flight to Tel Aviv “for security reasons”. At the same time, the German company announced the cancellation of flight LH683 from Tel Aviv to Munich.
The example of the German Lufthansa was followed by the Austrian Austrian Airlines and while its aircraft had already taken off from Vienna to Tel Aviv, its captain announced to the passengers that he would make a refueling stop in Bulgaria and then return to Vienna.
The Austrian Airlines schedule change was announced as being due to “military activity in the area near Israeli national airspace”.
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