Foreign airlines returning to Israel after Lebanon ceasefire

(JNS) Several foreign airlines are resuming service to Israel following the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, with others expected to follow suit next month as quiet holds and security conditions improve.

Azerbaijan Airlines plans to restart its Tel Aviv-Baku route on Nov. 30; Greece’s national airline, Aegean Airlines, announced it will restart flights to Israel on Dec. 10; and Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air will gradually resume operations in Israel starting on Dec. 20.

Major European carriers that have suspended service to Israel until mid-December are now expected to restart flights as well ahead of the Christmas holidays, assuming Israel’s northern front remains peaceful.

The three major U.S. carriers are still not flying to Israel, leaving El Al with a virtual monopoly over transatlantic flights, sending airfares skyrocketing amid an investigation of alleged price gouging by Israel’s flag carrier.

Israeli airline Israir is considering launching flights to New York as early as January, but has conditioned the move on the Israeli parliament amending the law to suspend the requirement for airlines to compensate passengers for flight delays and cancelations during wartime. Other carriers have made the same demand.

Both United and American Airlines have suspended flights to Israel indefinitely, while Delta is currently scheduled to resume flights to Tel Aviv only in April. United and Delta had sought to resume flights periodically over the last year, only to suspend service anew following flareups, while American has stayed away entirely.

A group of Israeli high-tech leaders is also considering launching flights to New York, on a new airline to be called TechAir, due to the scarcity of available seats on the popular route.

“The airline industry in and around Israel is in a holding pattern,” Mark Feldman, Jerusalem director of Diesenhaus Tours, told JNS on Thursday.

He noted that January and February are typically the slowest months for travel to Israel, so there is no urgency for U.S. airlines to resume flights with the ceasefire with Lebanon just taking hold.

“I would like to hope that if we have silence on the northern front for the next few weeks that those airlines who have abandoned Israel will move up their planned returns,” Feldman said.