Israel loses over 10,000 travelers in one day as 20 airlines cancel flights

Around 20 airlines have cancelled or delayed their flights to and from Israel in recent days due to tensions in the region, meaning a significant loss of travellers, an airport source said Sunday.

A spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority told the Spanish news agency Efe that 10,000 fewer passengers are expected at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport this Sunday alone.

In total, Israel’s main international airport is expecting about 55,000 passengers this Sunday between departures and arrivals, although that number could drop in the coming hours if more airlines cancel.

The Airport Authority noted that this abnormal situation will continue for the next week, given the atmosphere of uncertainty the country is experiencing in the face of a possible attack on its territory.

The first airlines to cancel flights with transfers in Tel Aviv were North American airlines Delta and United, as well as the German Lufthansa group, whose companies will resume normal operations only on August 9.

In total, almost 20 airlines (including KLM, Air France, Italy’s ITA, Poland’s LOT and Greece’s Aegean) have postponed their flights to and from the country, including Spain’s Iberia and Air Europa.

Iberia will not operate flights to Tel Aviv this Sunday, and Air Europa will not operate from this Sunday until the 7th of this month.

Air Europa lists on its website eight Madrid-Tel Aviv roundtrip flights that have been suspended “due to the situation in Israel, for reasons beyond the company’s control.”

Israeli airlines El Al, Arkia and Israir will continue to operate flights without interruption “until the situation returns to normal,” according to the Airports Authority.

Tensions in the region also led to countries including the US, UK and France ordering their citizens to leave Lebanon on the last day – as did Germany, Mexico, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland earlier.

“We encourage people who want to leave Lebanon to purchase any available ticket, even if the flight does not depart immediately or follow their preferred route,” the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said in a statement.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told his citizens in Lebanon to “leave now” as France did on Sunday “because of the volatile security situation”.

Israel has been on high alert since July 31, when an attack in Tehran that the Jewish state neither confirmed nor denied killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, just hours after the army bombed Tel Aviv and shot down Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

Since then, tensions in the region have risen over the possibility of retaliation from Iran and Lebanon, as well as Hamas, against Israeli territory.

The commander of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), General Michel Kurilla, arrived in Israel on Saturday to discuss the regional crisis, according to Hebrew media reports. During the visit, he will also visit Jordan and other Gulf countries.