Tel Aviv
 

Sky News reporting that Delta and US Airways have cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv until further notice. I wonder what other airlines will do in the light of MH17 and flying into war zones?

Regards

From The Guardian:
Gaza crisis: Delta Airlines diverts jet, cancels flights to Israel - live updates | World news | theguardian.com

Delta Air Lines is canceling all flights to Israel until further notice, citing reports that a rocket landed near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, the Associated Press reports:

A Delta Boeing 747 from New York was flying over the Mediterranean headed for Tel Aviv on Tuesday when it turned around and flew to Paris instead. Flight 468 had 273 passengers and 17 crew on board.

Update: the Federal Aviation Administration has not issued any notices regarding flights over the Middle East, according to Reuters, citing the White House. It’s up to individual carriers to decide.

Update 2: Israeli police have reported a rocket landed near Ben Gurion airport, the AP reported:

Police spokeswomen Luba Samri says Tuesday that the rocket caused damage to a house and lightly wounded one Israeli.

Good reason to divert, given present state of affairs.

As reported, Delta 468 JFK-TLV has diverted enroute to Paris:

Delta (DL) #468 ? 21-Jul-2014 ? KJFK - LLBG / TLV ? FlightAware

Looks like US Air out of PHL and United from EWR have cancelled flights to TLV as well.

@DeltaNewsroom: .@Delta suspends TLV operations until further notice Delta Air Lines Newsroom - News Archive

@JohninJerusalem: Delta, US Air and United cancel NY to Tel Aviv flights - http://t.co/qC6IWBXbFk via @washingtonpost

According to CNBC, American and United are canceling flights, as well.

According to Fox Business News, United has also suspended all flights to and from Tel Aviv.

Yes.

@pdanahar: Confirmed: US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suspends for 24 hrs all US flights to Tel Aviv.

@AP: BREAKING: European airlines Air France, Lufthansa suspend all flights to Tel Aviv over safety concerns.

@AirCanada: We have cancelled our Tel Aviv flight tonight AC84 YYZ-TLV and return AC85 TLV-YYZ 23/07. Will continue to evaluate going forward & update.

A victory of sorts, for Hamas?

Norwegian has also suspended flights to Tel Aviv until further notice.

Finally, after Ukraine, a measure of sanity.
However heroic the SLF, pilots and crew have not necessarily signed up for the risk of flying into a war zone that is boiling over.

Whilst there is a big difference between a SAM and the Hamas rockets it is a very high risk for any airline to operate into Tel Aviv at the moment. If anything happened they would be hammered by world opinion

Cyprus Airways suspended the flights. Was there a strike that was not publicized?

From those friendly folks at the FAA -

!FDC 4/3630 ZZZ PART 1 OF 2 SECURITY ISRAEL POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS SITUATION—ISRAEL AIRSPACE DUE TO THE POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS SITUATION CREATED BY THE ARMED CONFLICT IN ISRAEL AND GAZA, ALL FLIGHT OPERATIONS TO/FROM BEN GURION INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (LLBG) BY U.S. OPERATORS ARE PROHIBITED UNTIL FURTHER ADVISED. A. APPLICABILITY. THIS NOTAM APPLIES TO ALL U.S. AIR CARRIERS OR COMMERCIAL OPERATORS, ALL PERSONS EXERCISING THE PRIVILEGES OF AN AIRMAN CERTIFICATE ISSUED BY THE FAA EXCEPT SUCH PERSONS OPERATING U.S.-REGISTERED AIRCRAFT FOR A FOREIGN AIR CARRIER, AND ALL OPERATORS OF AIRCRAFT REGISTERED IN THE UNITED STATES EXCEPT WHERE THE OPERATOR OF SUCH AIRCRAFT IS A FOREIGN AIR CARRIER. B. PERMITTED OPERATIONS. THIS NOTAM DOES NOT PROHIBIT PERSONS DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH A FROM CONDUCTING FLIGHT OPERATIONS WITHIN THE TERRITORY AND AIRSPACE OF ISRAEL WHEN SUCH OPERATIONS ARE AUTHORIZED EITHER BY ANOTHER AGENCY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE FAA OR BY AN EXEMPTION ISSUED BY THE ADMINISTRATOR. 1407221615-1407231615EST END PART 1 OF 2

!FDC 4/3630 ZZZ PART 2 OF 2 SECURITY OPERATORS SHOULD CALL THE DOMESTIC EVENTS NETWORK (DEN) AT 202-493-5107 FOR AUTHORIZATION. C. EMERGENCY SITUATIONS. IN AN EMERGENCY THAT REQUIRES IMMEDIATE DECISION AND ACTION FOR THE SAFETY OF THE FLIGHT, THE PILOT IN COMMAND OF AN AIRCRAFT MAY DEVIATE FROM THIS NOTAM TO THE EXTENT REQUIRED BY THAT EMERGENCY. THIS NOTAM WILL BE UPDATED WITHIN 24 HOURS, OPERATORS SHOULD CONTINUE TO MONITOR U.S. NOTAMS FOR CHANGES OR UPDATES. 1407221615-1407231615EST END PART 2 OF 2

Ok - what did I miss ? Is there any indication that Hamas has acquired high-end SAM missiles ? Did the threat significantly increase recently ? Bit mystified by this recent development...

apparently an F16 was hit (but not downed) over Gaza, which points to a MANPAD that has lighter warhead as a bigger medium-range missile would >90% take it down in that case, but airlines don't want to risk especially after this in Ukraine.

I don't know where Hamas could even find medium-range SAM but Assad, as much as he doesn't like Hamas, would like to take down several israeli planes so he could have proliferated them a SAM or two, nothing is impossible today.

A Hamas rocket landed 2 km from Ben Gurion International.
Israel is confident that the airport is safe and it is of note that British Airways is continuing flights from LHR. Some other carriers are re-assessing their flights.

Don't think Israel will be too bothered, El Al stand to make a fortune. :ok: