British Airways is to become the latest major European airline to resume flights to Israel with services set to restart on 1 April.
The UK-based carrier plans to operate four flights per week between London Heathrow and Tel Aviv. But the outbound service from Heathrow will involve a 45-minute stop in Larnaca, Cyprus, to allow a crew change as BA staff will not be allowed to stay in Tel Aviv on safety grounds.
“We’ve taken the commercial decision to move Tel Aviv to our short-haul network when we restart our flights on 1 April,” said BA in a statement. “This aligns these flights with other similar length flights we operate, and we’ll keep this decision under review.”
Like many European airlines, BA suspended flights to Tel Aviv when war broke out between Israel and terrorist group Hamas in early October.
Other European carriers including Lufthansa Group’s airlines and Air France have already restored services to Israel.
Although fellow UK carrier Virgin Atlantic has decided not to resume flights to Israel until early September.
“After careful consideration, we have taken the decision to extend our pause on flying to and from Tel Aviv up to and including 4 September 2024,” added Virgin Atlantic in a statement.
