AviationAirlines suspend international flights to and from Israel
With the downing by Ukrainian separatists of the MH17 jetliner as a backdrop, several international airlines on Tuesday have halted their flights to and from Israel. Some airlines said they would reconsider the decision after twenty-four hours, other airlines said the flights would be halted indefinitely. It appears that what triggered the decision was a Hamas rocket which landed in the town of Yahood, about a mile or two from Ben Gurion International Airport.
With the downing by Ukrainian separatists of the MH17 jetliner as a backdrop, several international airlines on Tuesday have halted their flights to and from Israel. Some airlines said they would reconsider the decision after twenty-four hours, other airlines said the flights would be halted indefinitely.
It appears that what triggered the decision was a Hamas rocket which landed in the town of Yahood, about a mile or two from Ben Gurion International Airport.
Delta was the first carrier to announce it was halting flights to and from Israel after diverting a Tel Aviv-bound flight carrying 273 passengers to Paris on Tuesday after “reports of a rocket or associated debris near the airport in Tel Aviv.” Delta’s decision was followed by Air France and Dutch airline KLM, and then the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has halted all U.S. flights to and from Israel.
Two U.K.-based airlines made a different decision each: easyJet suspended its flights, while British Airways said it would carry on with its twice-daily service from London.
The Guardian reports that yesterday (Tuesday) night, Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, asked Secretary of State John Kerry to help restore commercial flights, but that a White House official responded, after being asked: “We’re not going to overrule the FAA. Period.”
Delta Airlines said in its announcement that it had suspended service until further notice to and from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv and the airline’s New York-JFK hub. It added: “Delta, in co-ordination with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, is doing so to ensure the safety and security of our customers and employees.”
A spokesperson for Air France said that the airline had suspended all flights owing to the “evolution of the security situation in Israel.” “The decision … will come into effect immediately and remain until further notice,” he added.
The Guardian notes that surprise decision by the airlines has alarmed the Israeli government and business community, especially since the effectiveness of Israel’s Iron Dome system, the nation-wide network of shelters and alarm systems, and the discipline of the Israeli public have so far prevented the conflict from having any meaningful economic repercussions. While the post-MH17 sensitivity of airlines to flying into zones of conflict is understood, Israeli officials say that in this specific situation, the airlines’ decision awards Hamas an unjustified, and unnecessary, point in a war which is likely to be decided on points rather than by a knock-out.
