Lufthansa has confirmed plans to resume flights to Israel from early next year, becoming one of the first major carriers to return to the country since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October.
The Star Alliance member will return to Tel Aviv on Jan. 8, 2024, initially offering four flights per week from Frankfurt and three per week from Munich. The services will be the carrier’s first to Israel since the group halted flights on Oct. 9, two days after Hamas terrorists carried out an attack against Israel.
Additionally, Lufthansa Group subsidiaries Austrian Airlines and Swiss are planning to provide 8X-weekly and 5X-weekly connections, respectively. This will see the group provide a total of 20 services per week to Tel Aviv, representing about 30% of its regular schedule.
“Safety is always the top priority for the Lufthansa Group airlines,” a statement from the group says. “The Lufthansa Group continues to closely monitor the security situation in Israel and is in close contact with local and international authorities. Possible flight-plan adjustments must be expected as conditions change.”
Lufthansa, Swiss and Eurowings also resumed flights to Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Dec. 15 after a two-month hiatus. Data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows Lufthansa is initially offering daily service from Frankfurt, Swiss is flying 2X-weekly from Zurich and Eurowings is providing one flight per week from Berlin, Dusseldorf and Hamburg, in Germany, and Stockholm Arlanda.
Although Lufthansa is returning to Israel in early 2024, Delta Air Lines has confirmed that it has extended the suspension of its route between New York John F. Kennedy International Airport and Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV) until March 29 at the earliest. The U.S. airline’s services from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Boston Logan International Airport also remain on hold.
“Delta is continuously monitoring the rapidly evolving security environment and assessing our operations based on security guidance and intelligence reports, including the most recent U.S. State Department travel advisory,” the airline says in a statement. “Our hearts are with all who are impacted as our people work to find safe alternatives for customers.”
OAG data shows that TLV is served by 17 carriers during the week commencing Dec. 18, with El Al Israel Airlines accounting for two-thirds of all departure seats. Overall capacity from the airport is about 84,700 weekly departure seats, which represents a drop of about 77% compared with the week before the Hamas attack.
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