JERUSALEM (Reuters) -European and U.S. carriers cancelled flights for the next several days after a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Sunday landed near Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport, the country’s main international airport.
Many foreign airlines subsequently suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv. Following a ceasefire deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas in January, foreign carriers had begun to resume flights to Israel after halting them for much of the last year and a half, although with less capacity and frequency.
That left flag carrier El Al Airlines – along with smaller rivals Arkia and Israir – with a near monopoly, full flights and higher air fares.
Delta Air Lines said it had cancelled Sunday’s flight from JFK in New York to Tel Aviv and the return flight from Tel Aviv on Monday. United, though, had yet to cancel its flights from Newark. Flights from Tel Aviv on Delta and United departed about 90 minutes late.
Lufthansa Group, which includes Lufthansa, Swiss, Brussels and Austrian, said it had halted flights to and from Tel Aviv through Tuesday due to the current situation.
ITA said it had cancelled flights from Italy to Israel through Wednesday, while Air France cancelled flights on Sunday, saying customers were transferred to flights on Monday. TUS flights to and from Cyprus were cancelled through Monday, while Air India flights from New Delhi were halted on Sunday.
Ryanair suspended flights on Sunday but flights are still scheduled for Monday, according to the Israel Airports Authority.
Aegean, flydubai and Ethiopian did not cancel flights.
Udi Bar Oz, head of Ben Gurion Airport, said the airport was up and running less than 30 minutes after the missile hit a road nearby. He said the airport and Transportation Minister were providing information to carriers to minimize damage to flight schedules in the coming days.
Claiming responsibility for the strike that sent a plume of smoke into the air and caused panic among passengers in the terminal building, the Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said Israel’s main airport was “no longer safe for air travel”.
The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, began targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping in late 2023, during the early days of the war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. President Donald Trump in March ordered large-scale strikes against the Houthis to reduce their capabilities and deter them from targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to respond to the Houthis. “We attacked in the past, we will attack in the future … There will be more blows,” he said.
(Reporting by Steven Scheer in Jerusalem, Gianluca Semeraro in Milan, Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris and Miranda Murray in BerlinEditing by Giles Elgood)
By Steven Scheer
