Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air announced on April 25 that it will resume flights from London to Tel Aviv as soon as May 1 after being grounded by the novel coronavirus crisis. Already on April 22, Israeli news outlets reported that the US airline Delta plans to resume flights from New York to Israel in early May. According to these reports, the US Federal Aviation Administration assured Delta that Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport was safe and that its aircraft will be thoroughly disinfected before takeoff. Flights from JFK to Ben Gurion are already available for booking on the company’s website.
British Airways also plans to resume flights to Israel in May. The company was hoping to relaunch flights on May 2, but strict health regulations forced the company to push the resumption of flights back two weeks. Booking is now available on the company’s site for flights beginning May 16.
Other airlines are planning to resume flights to Israel in June. Air India wants to reopen flights from New Delhi, and Alitalia hopes to resume flights from Rome.
Still, it is not at all clear whether flights to Tel Aviv will indeed happen so soon. Clearly, the airlines are keen on resuming them after canceling all flights to Israel in mid-March. But several issues stand in the way.
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
