Categories: Travel

Air France says suspending Tel Aviv, Beirut flights at least until Monday

Passengers wait for their fligts at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on August 6, 2024, amid regional tensions during the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip. - The United States said it was working "around the clock" to avert an all-out war in the Middle East, as Israel remained on high alert for potential Iranian retaliation for two high-profile killings. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)

PARIS (AFP): Air France is suspending flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut scheduled for Sunday and Monday after Israel launched air strikes into Lebanon, the airline said.

“Flights today and tomorrow are suspended,” a spokesman for the French carrier said, adding that the suspension could be extended depending on the situation in the Middle East.

Air France, which usually runs a daily service to both cities, had already halted flights to Beirut between July 29 and August 15, but has kept flying to Tel Aviv.

Air France did not say whether its budget subsidiary Transavia, which also serves both destinations, would suspend its flights.

German airline Lufthansa on Friday extended its Beirut flight suspension to the end of September, and said it would not fly to Tel Aviv and Tehran until September 2.

Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority announced the resumption of flights to and from the country’s main international airport after a brief suspension as the Israeli military struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday.

Operations at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv resumed at 7:00 am (0400 GMT), spokesman Roy Steinmetz said, adding that “planes diverted to other airports will also take off from Ben Gurion again.”

The Frontier Post