The Lufthansa Group is extending its flight cancellations to the Middle East by another week. This affects all flights to and from Tel Aviv, Tehran, Beirut, Amman and Erbil until August 21, the company announced in Frankfurt.
The group’s companies will also not use the airspace over Iraq and Iran.
The suspension is a response to ongoing tensions between Israel and Iran, which are fuelling fears of war in the region far beyond the Gaza Strip. The previous flight suspension was due to last until Tuesday.
The flight ban applies to all carriers in the group, including Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, both for cargo and passenger aircraft. Lufthansa is offering free cancellations to travelers with tickets up to and including August 31.
Other airlines are also canceling flights
Air France announced that due to the security situation in Lebanon, it had extended the suspension of its flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Beirut, as well as flights to and from Lebanon operated by its subsidiary Transavia France, until next Wednesday.
Air France suspended flights to Beirut for the first time on July 29 following a rocket attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
Irish budget airline Ryanair said it would cancel all flights to and from Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv from Tuesday until August 26 “due to operational constraints beyond our control.” The airline did not provide further details.
ch/nm (dpa, AFP)
