Israel seeks to reverse EU’s advice to avoid its skies as foreign carriers nix flights
After briefly resuming services to Tel Aviv, many European airlines suspend their flights for longer periods, leaving Israelis stranded abroad with local airlines fully booked.
Efforts by Israeli officials to put pressure on Europe’s aviation regulator to reverse its guidance to avoid Israeli airspace for the coming month might be a case of too little, too late. That’s as a majority of foreign airlines are scrapping their services to the country for an extended period, leaving tens of thousands of Israelis stranded overseas and others unable to go on holidays.
The European Commission and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a warning over the weekend “not to operate within the airspaces of Lebanon and Israel at all flight levels,” citing “an overall intensification of air strikes and degradation in the security situation.”
Israel’s Transportation Minister Miri Regev, together with the Civil Aviation Authority, have been holding talks with EASA officials in recent days to try and convince the European agency to cancel the warning regarding Israeli airspace.
Very quite over the Middle East today.
