Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts
Get Simon Calder’s Travel email
EasyJet is halting all flights to and from Israel for the next six months following recent escalation of conflicts in the Middle East.
The British carrier will not be flying to Tel Aviv until at least late October. It only restarted flights on 25 March, following a pause after the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas.
It operates regular flights from London Luton, as well as Amsterdam, Berlin, Basel, Geneva and Milan.
“As a result of the continued evolving situation in Israel, easyJet has now taken the decision to suspend its flights to Tel Aviv for the remainder of the summer season until 27 October.
“Customers booked to fly on this route up to this date are being offered options including a full refund.”
The Independent has contacted other major airlines flying from the UK for details on their plans.
Easyjet’s decision follows Virgin Atlantic, who in February said they had “taken the difficult decision” to extend their pause on flights to and from Tel Aviv until 4 September, citing “the ongoing situation in Israel”.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said today: “Our flight routings are subject to continual security assessment and operate in line with UK, US and local regulations. The safety and security of our customers and people is paramount and always will be.”
British Airways resumed flights to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport at the beginning on April. A spokesman for BA said it is monitoring the situation but flights are operating as usual.
A spokesperson for Wizz Air told The Independent that “following the ongoing escalation in the region” it cancelled services on Saturday and Monday but resumed flying today (16 April), warning that passengers may see some changes to the schedule.
“The airline is closely monitoring the situation with the relevant authorities and keeping its passengers informed of all schedule changes. All passengers affected by the schedule changes will be contacted via email/SMS and provided with rebooking or refund options. Passengers who have booked through a third party should contact their booking provider. The safety and security for our passengers, crew, and aircraft remains our number one priority. We hope that normality comes back to the region soon.”
Ahead of Iran’s attack on Israel, most countries in the region closed their airspace to passenger aircraft, leading to many diversions and planes returning to their starting points.
Virgin Atlantic’s Saturday evening flight from Heathrow to Mumbai flew to central Turkey before turning around and heading for Istanbul to refuel before continuing to India by a much more northerly route than normal.
More to follow…
Source: independent.co.uk
