JNS
The European aviation giant’s decision could encourage other airlines to resume service to Israel.
The Lufthansa Group, which includes Germany’s flag carrier, Europe’s largest airline, announced on Friday that it will gradually resume flights to Israel.
The aviation giant suspended flights to Tel Aviv on May 4 following a ballistic missile launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen that struck near Ben-Gurion International Airport.
As the Lufthansa Group includes Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and EuroWings, its decision to resume flights may spell a return of the other big airlines that have yet to resume service to the Jewish state.
“For operational reasons, each airline in the group will gradually resume its flights,” the Lufthansa Group said in a statement.
It added that the decision to restart flights had been reached following “a comprehensive assessment of the situation and in coordination with relevant authorities.”
American carrier United Airlines resumed service to Israel on June 5, accelerating its return following rival Delta Air Lines’ decision to do so.
United, which operated more flights to Israel than any other U.S. carrier before the war, is offering roundtrip tickets to Newark for as low as $850 this week in a bid to lure back passengers—about half the price of fares on El Al and Delta flights, which are nearly sold out.
“It is crystal clear that once United’s management saw that Delta and its crew were staying overnight in Israel that they persuaded the United Labor Union to return to Israel,” Mark Feldman, CEO of Ziontours Jerusalem, told JNS on June 1. “We will still recommend caution to purchase tickets on United as their policy of forcing stranded clients to make their own way to Israel to/from Athens or Europe if they pull out is an outlier with the other foreign airlines.”
Another European carrier that resumed its service to Israel last weekend was KLM. Flights from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv will include a stopover in Larnaca, Cyprus, allowing crew members who prefer not to stay in Israel to disembark. Return flights to Amsterdam will operate nonstop.
Italian carrier ITA Airways, on the other hand, has extended its suspension until June 22.
Meanwhile, Israel’s new airline Air Haifa, operating from Haifa Airport, announced on Wednesday that it is launching direct flights to the Greek island of Rhodes in early July.
