Summary
- Lufthansa Group airlines will resume flights to Tel Aviv starting on January 8, 2024, after temporarily halting service as a result of conflict between Israel and Hamas.
- The flight schedule will likely be published on December 18, with Lufthansa, SWISS, and Austrian Airlines operating the routes.
- Tel Aviv has lost direct connectivity to many cities globally, with airlines like Turkish Airlines and US carriers not resuming their flights to town.
The airlines of the Lufthansa Group plan to resume their flights to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV) in Israel starting on January 8, 2024, they announced today in an announcement. These corporations temporarily halted their service to Israel on October 9, 2023, as a result of the continued conflict between this country and the terrorist group Hamas within the Gaza Strip.
Returning to Tel Aviv
On Friday, the Lufthansa Group announced its airlines will resume flying to Tel Aviv, Israel. The flight schedule will likely be published on Monday, December 18. Lufthansa Airlines, SWISS, and Austrian Airlines are the businesses set to fly to Israel.
In the primary phase, Lufthansa Airlines will initially offer 4 weekly flights from Frankfurt International Airport (FRA) and three weekly from Munich International Airport (MUC). Meanwhile, Austrian Airlines plans eight weekly flights from Vienna International (VIE) and SWISS five weekly flights from Zurich International (ZRH).
Photo: Photofex_AUT | Shutterstock.
With these announced flights, Lufthansa Group airlines will offer a complete of 20 weekly connections to and from Tel Aviv, representing around 30% of the regular flight schedule. In June 2023, Lufthansa operated 20 weekly flights to Tel Aviv from Frankfurt; and 14 from Munich; SWISS flew twice each day from Zurich, and Austrian had 18 weekly from Vienna. The three airlines will employ its Airbus A320 family fleet to operate these routes. In an announcement, the Lufthansa Group said,
The flights to Beirut (Lebanon), which have also been suspended, were resumed today, December 15, by Lufthansa, SWISS and Eurowings.
Who’s flying to Tel Aviv?
As of December 15, 2023, there are 498 weekly flights to Tel Aviv, down 66.4% versus the variety of flights to this airport in September 2023. A complete of 19 airlines currently fly to TLV, with El Al operating the vast majority of services with 259 per week (3.7% fewer than in September).
How El Al Has Adapted Its Operations To The Conflict In Gaza
The Israel-Hamas conflict has had a profound impact on El Al’s operation.
Other airlines flying to Tel Aviv include Israir, Wizz Air, Blue Bird, Flydubai, Arkia, Azimuth Airlines, Ethiopian, and Etihad.
Key airlines that used to fly to Tel Aviv haven’t resumed their connectivity to this destination. This includes Turkish Airlines (which operated 96 weekly flights to the Israeli airport) and each US carrier that flew to Israel, equivalent to United (22 weekly flights), Delta Air Lines (15 flights), and American Airlines (five weekly flights).
Lost connectivity
Tel Aviv has lost direct connectivity to many cities globally. Some city pairs, equivalent to Tel Aviv-Istanbul, went from having 70 weekly flights to simply 4 in December. Others have lost connectivity altogether, equivalent to the routes to Antalya, Paris Orly, and Cairo.
Photo: Bradley Caslin | Shutterstock.
In September 2023, there have been 73 weekly flights from the US to Israel. Ten US airports were directly connected to Tel Aviv, and now only five have weekly flights (Boston, Newark, JFK, Los Angeles, and Miami, all served by El Al).
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