Amid fears of an escalation of conflict in the Middle East following the assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya and Hezbollah’s No. 2 Fuad Shoukr, US and British airlines announced they were canceling flights to Israel.

The American Delta canceled flights until today, Thursday, August 1st, while United Airlines announced that it will stop flights until at least August 6th.

THE British Airways announced that it would cancel flights to Israel from Thursday.

So far, according to Israeli TV network Channel 12, seven airlines have already suspended flights to Ben Gurion Airport until further notice. According to Channel 12, those airlines so far are Delta, United Airlines, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Fly Dubai and Air India.

Israel announced earlier on Wednesday that, for security reasons, it is closing its airspace, but without stopping the operation of Ben-Gurion and Ramon international airports.

Amid this climate, the US also urged its citizens not to travel to Lebanon, citing tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

The US State Department has “heightened” its travel advisory for Lebanon to level 4, telling Americans “Do not travel”.

As early as Tuesday, both Britain and Italy were urging their citizens in Lebanon to leave the country or not to visit while the situation remains “complicated”. The British Foreign Office even noted that “if the conflict escalates, the government cannot guarantee that we will be able to remove them all immediately.”

Meanwhile, Lufthansa is canceling all flights to and from Tel Aviv with immediate effect until August 8, a spokesman for the German airline said on Thursday.

“The reason for this is the current developments in the region“, added the spokesperson.

The airline group has also suspended flights to and from the Lebanese capital Beirut until August 12, according to the spokesman.

The Cyprus News Agency highlighted that today’s Lufthansa flight LH682 which departed this morning from Munich with final destination Tel Aviv, eventually landed at Larnaca airport and the aircraft returned to Germany after the crew refused to continue the journey to Israel.

As Israeli public television reported, citing sources in the civil aviation service of Tel Aviv International Airport, the passengers of the flight had already been informed before take-off from Munich that the plane would make an intermediate landing in Larnaca “for a change of personnel”.

However, after landing in Cyprus, passengers were surprised to be informed by the plane’s pilot that Lufthansa does not grant permission to continue the flight to Tel Aviv “for security reasons”.

At the same time, the German company announced the cancellation of flight LH683 from Tel Aviv to Munich.

United Airlines and Delta Airlines Announcements

“Beginning with tonight’s flight from Newark Liberty to Tel Aviv, we are suspending our daily service to Tel Aviv for security reasons as we evaluate our next steps,” a United spokesperson told USA TODAY in an emailed statement.

“We continue to monitor the situation closely and will make decisions on resuming services with the safety of our customers and crew in mind».

United had stopped flights to Tel Aviv as early as October 2023 and flights resumed in June.

Delta Airlines will also cancel flights between New York (JFK) and Tel Aviv until at least August 2.

“Delta flights between New York-JFK and Tel Aviv will be suspended until Friday, August 2, due to the ongoing conflict in the region. Flight sales for flights DL234 on 31 July and 1 August and DL235 on 1 and 2 August. are suspended,” the airline said in a statement. “Customers affected by the schedule change will receive notifications via the Fly Delta app and the contact information listed on their booking».

Thousands of passengers crowd Ben Gurion Airport to catch up

About 70,000 passengers are at Tel Aviv airport, many trying to catch the last flights out of Israel, as a growing number of airlines suspend passenger and commercial flights to and from Tel Aviv amid fears that caused by the increasingly escalating situation in the Middle East, according to Israeli media.

Many are afraid of further flight cancellations and that they will not be able to return to their countries.

In order to meet the increased needs of the traveling public served by Tel Aviv International Airport, the Israeli private company Arkia announced today that it will operate additional flights from Tel Aviv to Athens and return for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, August 2 and 3, according to the Cyprus News Agency.

There are currently no flight cancellations or changes to the flight schedule of Cyprus airports due to the situation in the Middle East region, said Maria Kouroupi, director of Aviation Development and Communication of Hermes Airports.

Lufthansa and Fly Dubai today became the latest airlines to join a long line of carriers canceling all passenger and commercial flights to and from Tel Aviv.

The example of the German Lufthansa was followed by the Austrian Austrian Airlines and while its plane had already taken off from Vienna to Tel Aviv, its captain announced to the passengers that he would make a refueling stop in Bulgaria and then return to Vienna. The Austrian Airlines schedule change was announced to be due to “military activity in the area near Israeli national airspace”.

APE/SKAI.GR