


Germany’s Lufthansa airline group said Friday that it will restart flights to and from Tel Aviv starting June 23 after suspending them early last month amid the ongoing regional conflict.
The group said in a statement that the decision will affect its subsidiaries Lufthansa, Austrian, SWISS, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, ITA and Lufthansa Cargo but that “for operational reasons,” the individual airlines will only resume services “gradually.”
“The decision is based on an extensive security analysis and in coordination with the relevant authorities,” the statement added.
ITA, a member of the Lufthansa group, will only restart flights on July 6, as many airlines remain hesitant to return to Israel, following a strike on Ben Gurion Airport by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The Iran-backed group fired a ballistic missile at Israel on May 4, which managed to slip past air defenses and impact near an access road on airport grounds. The attack injured six people, though none of them were seriously wounded.
Air India is among those continuing to cancel flights to and from Tel Aviv. The airline announced it will be extending its flight cancellations until July 1, Ynet reported Friday.
In a blow to travelers in late May, the Irish low-cost air giant Ryanair put off resuming flights to and from Tel Aviv until the start of August.
According to Channel 12 news, the announcement meant that some 200,000 tickets were canceled, with summer vacations thrown into chaos for many.
Despite some airlines’ decision to keep canceling flights, several other carriers announced they would reopen their routes to Israel, including Air France, Delta and many low-cost airlines such as Wizz Airlines.
At the very end of May, United Airlines said it would resume flight services from New York to Tel Aviv on June 5, becoming the second US carrier to return to Israel since the Houthi missile attack.