easyJet cancels all flights to Israel for next six months due to ‘evolving situation’ in Middle East
EasyJet has canceled all flights from the UK to Israel for more than six months due to rising tensions in the Middle East.
The budget airline said it would not reopen routes to Tel Aviv until October 27 – with customers who already have tickets being offered the choice of a refund.
The Luton-based company had previously suspended flights until April 21 but has now extended the ban to cover the entire summer season.
A spokesman said today: ‘As a result of the continued development of the situation in Israel, easyJet has now taken the decision to suspend its flights to Tel Aviv for the remainder of the summer season.
“Customers booked to fly on this route up to this date are being offered options, including a full refund.”
EasyJet said it would not reopen routes to Tel Aviv until October 27 – with customers who already have tickets being offered the choice of a refund
A graphical representation of the air traffic shows the airspace over Iran and neighboring countries in the Middle East at 1:00 am yesterday Sunday after Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel
Saturday’s missile and drone attack on Israel by Iran has caused ‘chaos’ in the aviation industry after further narrowing options for planes navigating between Europe and Asia.
More than ten airlines have had to cancel or reschedule flights over the past two days, including easyJet, Qantas, KLM, Lufthansa, WizzAir, United Airlines and Air India.
Experts claimed this made it the largest single disruption to air travel since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.
German airline Lufthansa has suspended its flights to and from Iran, while others including Australia’s Qantas and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) have diverted flights to avoid Iranian airspace. EasyJet and WizzAir have also canceled flights to Tel Aviv.
Mark Zee, founder of Ops Group, which monitors airspace and airports, said: “Not since (9/11) have we had a situation with so many different airspaces shut down in such rapid succession and it creates chaos.”
ISRAEL: Passengers wait for flight updates at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Sunday
LEBANON: Passengers wait at Beirut Rafic Hariri Airport after Lebanon closed its airspace
Iran’s airspace is used by airlines traveling between Europe and Asia, and those carriers will be limited to two viable alternative routes, either through Turkey or via Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Mr. Zee said.
German airline Lufthansa has suspended its flights to and from Iran, while others including Australian airline Qantas diverted flights to avoid Iranian airspace.
This meant it had to temporarily reschedule the popular direct flight between Perth and London, meaning it will instead land in Singapore on its way to the UK.
A Qantas spokesman said: ‘We are temporarily adjusting the flight routes of our flights between Perth and London due to the situation in parts of the Middle East.
‘We contact the customers directly if there are changes to their booking.’
Qantas said no flights between Perth, the capital of the state of Western Australia, and London had been paused or cancelled, but flights on the route were operating on the adjusted flight route via Singapore.
IRAQ: Empty roads leading to Baghdad Airport were seen yesterday after Iraq closed its airspace
ISRAEL: An information board shows canceled flight departures at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Sunday
LEBANON: Empty areas at Beirut Rafic Hariri Airport on Sunday after Lebanon closed its airspace
The Sydney-based airline’s other flights to and from London remained unchanged as they take different routes.
KLM canceled all flights to and from Tel Aviv until today, a spokesman for the Dutch branch of Air France KLM said yesterday.
Finnair suspended operations in Iranian airspace until further notice, which may cause longer flight times on flights from Doha.
A spokesman said the Finnish carrier will divert over Egypt, resulting in delays of “a few minutes”.
Meanwhile, a SAS spokesman said that flights between Copenhagen and Bangkok partially fly over the region and that one flight had to be diverted overnight between Saturday and yesterday.
Air Canada warned of long delays and cancellations on its Israel flights and canceled flights to Tel Aviv today.
China Southern Airlines canceled yesterday’s flight to Iran, and Hainan Airlines said it is monitoring the situation and assessing whether an upcoming flight to Israel can fly normally, Chinese business site Yicai reported.
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Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system is launched to intercept missiles fired from Iran
British Airways is not believed to have been affected because it already avoided Iranian airspace and has not operated any flights to Tehran in 2018.
Israel closed its airspace on Saturday before reopening it yesterday morning.
The disruption changes by the hour: Travel expert NICKY KELVIN reveals what to do if you’re worried about a flight being canceled
Flight disruptions related to Iran’s attack on Israel are significant and change by the hour.
Not all airlines and routes are affected – for example, airlines such as Qatar and Emirates still fly in Iranian airspace.
Plenty of airlines have canceled flights to and from both Israel and Iran, but these are short-term measures and are not blanket measures across all airlines.
Therefore, the best advice for travelers both in that region – but also all travelers flying over the region who may be affected by airspace restrictions – is to check the latest with their airlines and airports, especially for those flying the next day or thaw.
For those who can easily rearrange travel, it may be advisable to postpone travel to try to avoid the disruptions and spin-off effects of the disruption happening right now, which may take days or weeks to fully resolve.
Most airlines that cancel flights offer flexible rebooking options or free cancellation or in some cases rebooking with different airlines. You should contact your airline now if your flight is within the next few days and ask what your available options are.
For those who want a real-time view of where the planes are flying, the FlightRadar24 website is a useful tool to see exactly where the planes are on the map, what airspace may be open or closed, and which airlines are flying where.
NICKY KELVIN is editor at The Points Guy. For more of his tips, click here
The attack also prompted several countries in the Middle East, including Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, to close their airspace overnight from Saturday to Sunday, but all have since reopened.
Major Middle Eastern airlines, including Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, said yesterday they would resume operations in the region after canceling or rescheduling some flights.
Independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie said it was not yet clear whether the latest unrest would affect passenger demand, which has remained robust despite ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.
He added: ‘If the political situation and the conflicts continue to escalate, then at some point people will be worried about leaving, but so far that has not happened.’
Airports in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran also resumed operations today after the temporary suspension, according to the country’s state media.
Flights were suspended late on Saturday, but the official IRNA news agency reported that ‘flights at Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran were back to normal’ as of 6 p.m.
IRNA said the Mehrabad domestic airport in Tehran and others across the country, including Tabriz in the northwest, Mashhad in the northeast and Shiraz in the south, were all now ‘functioning as planned’.
It comes as Lord David Cameron today urged Israel to be “smart as well as tough” by not escalating the conflict with Iran.
Israel should recognize Tehran’s weekend attack as an ‘almost total failure’ and ‘think with its head as well as its heart’ in its response, the foreign minister said.
He confirmed that British RAF jets shot down ‘a small number’ of drones fired by Iran in what was its first direct military strike on Israeli soil.
The unprecedented attack by Iran, which it said was in retaliation for an attack on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria earlier this month, has raised fears that the Israel-Hamas war is spiraling into a wider regional conflagration.
Ahead of a Commons statement by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the matter, Lord Cameron today echoed US President Joe Biden’s comment that Israel should see the successful defense against around 350 drones and missiles fired by Iran as a victory.
An Israeli offensive in Gaza, triggered by the October 7 attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 people, has caused widespread destruction and killed more than 33,000 Palestinians.
Leaders of the G7 warned yesterday that an ‘uncontrollable regional escalation’ in the Middle East must be prevented and said they are ‘ready to take further action now and in response to further destabilizing initiatives’.
All eyes will be on the response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, with countries in the region and elsewhere urging restraint to avoid intensifying the conflict.