Updated Tuesday 23 March 6pm
If EL AL has suspended almost all its flights to and from Tel Aviv until March 21st, with the exception of special flights to New York in coordination with the US Department of State, the Israeli airline is reopening its flight schedule as Passover approaches to maintain an air bridge to and from Israel. Following the decision of the Ministry of Transport, its activity will be limited to 15 flights per day by March 28th, with only 50 passengers per flight departing from Israel. Under these conditions, EL AL will be able to offer flights between Tel Aviv and Paris, London, Rome and Athens in Europe. For the United States, New York, Miami and Los Angeles are also on the schedule. Seats will be allocated according to an order of priority based on the date of the initial flight, with priority given to exceptional humanitarian and medical cases." says the company.
EL AL will therefore see its activity reduced to 5% of its usual capacity for flights departing from Israel. Because, due to the restrictions in force at Ben Gurion Airport, many destinations will not be served by the Israeli company next week. These include Lyon and Marseille in France, but also other European cities such as Amsterdam and Rome, Berlin and Frankfurt, Zurich and Vienna, as well as Lisbon and Barcelona. Similarly, most Eastern European capitals and cities will not be on EL AL's flight schedule from March 21 to 28, including Warsaw, Budapest, Belgrade, Krakow, Bucharest, Prague, and Thessaloniki.
No flights to Tel Aviv before the end of March, or even the end of May
Unlike EL AL, most carriers have suspended services to the Israeli metropolis. While Air France has suspended its flights to and from Tel Aviv until 4 April and its low-cost subsidiary Transavia until 27 March, other airlines are not planning to resume services to the Israeli city any time soon. Lufthansa and the other airlines of the German carrier's parent company - Swiss, Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines and ITA Airways - have already stopped their flights to and from Tel Aviv until 9 April, and KLM has suspended its service until 11 April. The same applies to Aegean Airlines until 23 April.
Others are even looking further ahead, to May. At the beginning of the month for Air Canada, on 2 May, but at the end of the month for British Airways and LOT Polish Airlines, which have cancelled their services to and from Tel Aviv until 31 May. Delta Air Lines has also suspended its New York-Tel Aviv route until 31 May, while its Atlanta-Tel Aviv flights will not resume until 4 August.
