Delta and Air France Cancel Tel Aviv Flights After Bombing
Two airlines cancel flights in wake of bombing
June 3, 2001 Posted: 7:42 PM EDT (2342 GMT)
ATLANTA, Georgia -- Two major airlines, Delta and Air France, canceled their regular flights to Tel Aviv following Friday night's suicide bombing of a nightclub near the city that killed 20 people, according to Reuters news service.
Delta Airlines Delta spokeswoman Kristi Tucker told CNN that concerns about safety led to the decision to cancel its new Flight 96 from JFK International Airport in New York to Tel Aviv for Saturday and Sunday. Flight 97 from Tel Aviv to JFK was canceled Sunday and Monday.
"We felt for the safety of our passengers, it was the right thing to do," Tucker said.
Flight 96 will resume normal service Monday and Flight 97 will resume service Tuesday, she said.
Air France likewise cited security concerns in canceling its Paris-Tel Aviv flights Saturday through Monday morning, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Israeli Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh told Reuters he was ordering an investigation into the cancellations.
"There are absolutely no security related reasons to cancel flights to Israel," Sneh said. "We are demanding an explanation from the airlines."
A ministry aide told Reuters a legal investigation would be launched into the cancellations. They may be a violation of the airlines' licenses to provide daily service. In extreme cases, licenses can be revoked, the aide said.
Air France said the bombing took place outside the hotel where its crews stay in the resort area of Tel Aviv.
"The changes that were made in the flight schedule are without a doubt causing discomfort to passengers and significant losses to the company," Air France said in a statement reported by Reuters, "and the company intends to do all that can be done to return to a regular schedule."
Israel's tourism industry has suffered a dramatic slump since the onset of violence last September.
One traveler in Atlanta told CNN on Sunday she canceled plans to travel to Israel as soon as she heard about the bombing. Adi Zaionit, an optometrist, had just finished making hotel preparations for the trip. Now she is putting it off indefinitely.
Born and raised in Israel, Zaionit said she was stunned to learn the attack occurred near in an area frequented by young people.
"I thought, that could have been me -- going out to a club on a Friday night in Tel Aviv," Zaionit said. "I saw [on the news] images of girls' summer sandals poking out from black body bags ... it was chilling."
She said she had looked forward to getting reacquainted with the country she left 12 years ago. But after speaking to relatives in Israel, she said she feels she made the right decision.
"After so long, I didn't want to go back with the country in this state," Zaionit said. "People live in fear and terror, they don't step out to the street. The morale is very gloomy. I've waited this long to go, I can wait longer."
Another traveler, 22-year-old Talli Asias, an Israeli college student at a university in Atlanta, said she had no intention of canceling her plans to fly to Tel Aviv Sunday via Zurich on Swissair.
"I've been planning this trip for months now and I've no plans to cancel," she said. "I know the situation is not as bad as it seems."
Asias did say, however, she is concerned about taking her boyfriend Anders Petersen because she feels "responsible" for him.
Petersen said he was under some pressure by his family in Denmark to cancel the couple's trip. "They are worried," he said. "But the recent events haven't changed my motivation for going there, even though I know the atmosphere will be different."
"I am an Israeli. I have a right to go there. If I don't go, they'll win," Asias said, referring to the perpetrators of the bombing.
CNN Associate Editor Dana Rosenblatt contributed to this report