Summary
- Israeli air carriers El Al, Israir, and Arkia are continuing to operate scheduled flights to assist facilitate the exodus and repatriation of residents and reservists called as much as duty.
- El Al is working flights as scheduled, including adding a flight from Athens to Tel Aviv, and should prioritize repatriation flights if needed.
- Despite concerns over airspace safety, Israel’s most important airport in Tel Aviv is working at a reduced capability, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and FAA haven’t restricted flights to Israel.
Israeli air carriers are continuing to operate their airline schedules whilst foreign carriers suspend services to the country over airspace safety concerns. Flag carrier El Al, together with Israir and Arkia, are presently continuing scheduled operations and adding flights to assist facilitate the exodus and repatriation of residents and reservists called as much as duty.
Where are the flights going?
Flag carrier EL AL Airlines confirmed today that it is working its flights as scheduled, in accordance with the instructions of the Israeli security forces. All flights from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion (TLV) will depart from Terminal 3, including flights originally planned to depart from Terminal 1.
The airline also added a flight to Tel Aviv from Athens today (Tuesday, October tenth) as passengers stranded abroad try and rebook flights on operating services. It further indicated that it would reallocate staff and aircraft to prioritize repatriation flights. In response to a press release on its website this morning, El Al is planning to proceed its schedule until instructed otherwise:
“We act in response to the instructions of the safety authorities and are in direct contact with them. To the extent that there’s a unique directive regarding the difficulty of flight operations, we are going to in fact follow it.”
Photo: Flightradar24
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued a Conflict Zone Information Bulletin (CZIB) for the airspace of Israel but didn’t go so far as to limit flights. The agency found the Civil Aviation Authority of the state of Israel is actively managing the chance to civil aviation and doesn’t find any indications that their mitigation measures usually are not efficient or inadequate. An analogous bulletin by the FAA in the US echoed the identical sentiments.
Airspace safety watchdog organization OPS Group issued a Level 1 “Do Not Fly” warning for Israeli airspace earlier this week. It highlighted the increased risk of a passenger aircraft becoming an informal of war. Most recently seen nine years ago within the case of MH17.
Photo: Dmitry Pistrov / Shutterstock
Israel’s southern Eilat-Ramon Airport (ETM), positioned near the Red Sea, continues to function an alternate airport and possible destination inside Israel, outside the current conflict zone.