Immediately after Black Saturday on October 7, almost all foreign airlines announced the cancellation of their flights to and from Israel for an indefinite period of time, including Turkish Airlines, EasyJet, Wizz Air, Air France, Delta, American Airlines and many other airlines. However, about ten airlines currently continue to operate at Ben Gurion Airport, and will soon be joined by another foreign company.
Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it will operate direct flights to and from Israel starting December 1, on the Addis Ababa-Tel Aviv route, on a five-a-week basis. Ethiopian Airlines was one of the few airlines that flew to Israel during the first weeks of the war, but at one point canceled the flights, and recently announced its management's decision to resume direct flights to Israel. However, the airline changed its mind shortly after the announcement and before the return and again cancelled flights. Now, as stated, the company is announcing its return to Israel again starting in 11 days.
Ethiopian Airlines plane, photo: GettyImages
At the same time, Dubai-based Emirates has announced the cancellation of its flights to Israel until further notice. The decision stems from the fact that all of Emirates' aircraft are wide-body planes with about 400 seats, and at a time when demand for flights to and from Israel is very low, operating aircraft of this size makes it unprofitable. However, Emirates' subsidiary, Fly Dubai, continues to operate direct flights to Israel on its narrow-body planes, which have also flown half-empty in recent weeks.
Of the few airlines that operate direct flights to and from Israel, two are airlines from the Emirates, as Abu Dhabi-based Etihad also continues to operate flights on the route with four flights a week.
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