Lufthansa to resume Tel Aviv flights from August 1

Dhaka: Germany’s Lufthansa airline group said  it was preparing to gradually resume its flight operations to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport starting August 1.

When Israel’s airspace was closed on June 13 at the start of the brief war with Iran, the carrier group — which includes Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings — halted service to and from Tel Aviv through at least July 31.

Despite the plans to slowly resume flights, the group said it would still be suspending SWISS flights to and from Tel Aviv through October 25, as previously announced, citing “operational reasons.”

Lufthansa’s announcement came the same day that the European Union’s Aviation Safety Agency lifted a high-risk advisory recommending pilots avoid the airspace over Israel and other parts of the region, due to the risk of war reigniting with Iran.

The advisory covering Israel, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and Jordan was put in place on June 13 and replaced by a softened version a week ago. It has now been withdrawn, the EASA said in a statement.

Iran launched near-daily missile barrages toward Israel in June, striking dense residential areas as well as military targets, killing 24 civilians and injuring nearly 60 over the 12 days of war.

The EASA issued a separate advisory for Iran, telling pilots to avoid flying over the country for fear of being mistaken for an enemy aircraft.

“Iran is likely to maintain elevated alert levels for its air force and air defense units nationwide, particularly in light of the potential for further ad hoc military actions from their adversaries. Consequently, the risk of miscalculation and/or misidentification remains high over FIR Tehran,” the advisory read.

Israel reopened its airspace nearly two weeks ago, but several major European and US airlines have not yet announced a resumption date of flight operations to and from Tel Aviv, including British Airways, United Airlines, and Delta.

French carrier Air France resumed nonstop flights between Ben Gurion and Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport Monday.

-B