Since the beginning of the Iron Sword War, most foreign airlines have cancelled their flights to and from Israel. Currently, there are a few airlines still flying to and from Israel, but more are expected to join soon.
Currently, Fly Dubai operates two flights a day to Dubai and will soon increase to three flights a day due to high demand. At the same time, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airlines also continues to operate direct flights on the Tel Aviv-Abu Dhabi route and except for a very brief Etihad hiatus at the start of the war, both carriers have flown to and from Israel non-stop since 7 October.
Etihad is the only airline operating direct flights to Abu Dhabi, Photo: Reuters
Ethiopian Airlines, which resumed flying to Israel a few weeks ago, announced an increase in the frequency of flights and currently operates seven flights a week on the Tel Aviv-Addis Ababa route. A significant advantage that Ethiopian has, as well as Etihad and Fly Dubai are their many follow-on destinations to hundreds of follow-on destinations around the world. The three airlines allow Israelis to fly with them to Addis Ababa, Abu Dhabi or Dubai (depending on the airline) and from there continue to a huge variety of destinations in Asia, the Americas, Europe and Africa.
China's Hainan also operates direct flights to Shenzhen, China, and has not stopped flying to Israel since the beginning of the war. It is important to emphasize that Hainan's flight frequency is relatively limited and it operates only two flights a week on this route. Other foreign airlines flying to and from Israel are Azimut and Red Wings, which operate flights to Russia and High Sky.
The companies that will soon return to Israel
One of the most dramatic announcements expected to affect quite a few other foreign airlines is the announcement by the Lufthansa Group, which announced that it will resume flying to Israel from January 8. The Lufthansa Group also includes Swiss and Austrian, so the three largest airlines will operate 20 weekly flights to four destinations – Zurich, Vienna, Munich and Frankfurt.
Return to fly to Israel - Lufthansa, photo: Moshe Shai
Another airline that will return even earlier is Romanian Tarom. According to the company's official announcement, it is expected to return to Israel as early as January 1 and will operate two weekly flights to Bucharest, on Sundays and Thursdays.
Spanish airline Air Aeropa announced last month that it would return to Israel on January 9, but postponed the return to early February, and it is still unclear whether that date is certain. At the same time, there are several foreign airlines that are examining their return to Israel in the coming weeks, and in talks with their managers, there is some optimism, but it is still too early to officially declare them returning.
It is important to mention El Al, Israir and Arkia, which continue to fly relatively steadily throughout the period. EL AL operates about 80% of flights from Israel and to Israel, and most of the remaining 20% is taken by Arkia and Israir. Israeli airlines fly to a long list of destinations, including Berlin, Paris, London, New York, Prague, Budapest, Bucharest, Amsterdam, Madrid, Barcelona and many other destinations.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us