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Airlines Suspend Flights to Israel After Hamas Rocket Falls Near Key Airport

23 July 2014 04:41 (UTC +04:00)

Major airlines canceled service — and in several cases, diverted planes in midflight — after the Federal Aviation Administration instructed American carriers not to fly to Israel for 24 hours because of the “potentially hazardous situation created by the armed conflict in Israel and Gaza.”

The disruption of air travel at the height of the summer tourism season highlighted the growing impact of the Gaza Strip conflict on the Israeli economy, even as the government sought to project an aura of business as usual.

It also provides a victory of sorts for the Palestinian militant movement Hamas, which controls Gaza and has been firing rockets at Israel for the past three weeks. It is the first time the group has managed to cause restrictions on travel to Ben-Gurion airport; the last time foreign airlines suspended service to Israel was in 1991, when Iraq fired Scud missiles at the country.

The three United States carriers with scheduled service to Israel — Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and US Airways — quickly canceled their flights, and were later joined by Air Canada and a number of Western European airlines, including Air France, Lufthansa and KLM. Turkish Airlines and the Russian carrier Aeroflot also suspended flights.

British Airways said it “continues to operate as normal” for the moment, though a spokeswoman said the airline would monitor the situation closely. And El Al, the Israeli national carrier, kept flying as usual.

The F.A.A. said it would provide updated instructions to the airlines “as soon as conditions permit.” The European Aviation and Safety Agency also warned airlines to avoid Israeli airspace.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday to seek his help in reversing the decision to suspend flights, Obama administration officials said. They did not comment on the substance of the call, which was first reported by the Israeli new media, nor did they say how Mr. Kerry responded to Mr. Netanyahu’s request.

Ben-Gurion airport, the country’s main international gateway, handled 14 million visitors last year and is critical to Israel’s economy. It is about 40 miles from the Gaza border, closer than either of Israel’s other international airports, at Eilat and Haifa. Those airports are much smaller than Ben-Gurion and handle mostly domestic and European flights; no American carrier serves either one.

The decision to suspend service reflects a turn to greater caution by the airline industry, which appears to be much more sensitive to the risks of flying over conflict areas after the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner over eastern Ukraine last week.