15 April 2024 , 18:00
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Barely a plane was seen in the skies of the Middle East as dozens of flights were diverted or cancelled following Iran’s attack on Israel.
Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, all halted flights from Saturday evening. After a brief pause, airspace reopened allowing aircraft to take off in the region on Sunday.
It came just hours after Iran fired hundreds of drones and missiles across the Israeli border in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Syria. Dozens of flights were cancelled or continued to be diverted as a map via Flightradar24 shows the full extent of the eerily quiet skies.
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United Airlines called off Newark to Tel Aviv flights on Saturday and Sunday after Israel closed its airspace (Anadolu via Getty Images)Israeli airline El Al cancelled more than 20 Sunday flights, while a handful continued to operate. Two of its flights that departed from Thailand, headed for Israel, were diverted to Bangkok on Saturday. El Al also told passengers not to come to the Tel Aviv airport until notified.
United Airlines called off its Newark to Tel Aviv flights on Saturday and Sunday after Israel briefly closed its airspace. It comes after recently resuming its service to Tel Aviv last month after suspending all Israel-bound flights following Hamas’ October 7 attack. It is the only US airline to have resumed flights to Israel since the attack.
The cancellations came after Iran's massive aerial strike on Israel (Anadolu via Getty Images)“We are closely monitoring the situation and will make decisions on upcoming flights with a focus on the safety of our customers and crews,” United Airlines said in a statement.
Delta Air Lines was scheduled to restart flights to Tel Aviv on June 7; American Airlines has not disclosed when it will resume flights to Israel. Its Philadelphia to Doha flight on Saturday was also cancelled, but the Sunday departure was still scheduled.
United also cancelled its flights from Washington Dulles International Airport to Amman, Jordan, on Saturday night and from Newkark to Dubai “due to unrest in the Middle East.” However, the Dubai departure was still listed as scheduled for Sunday.
Emirates Airlines’ Dubai-Amman flight scheduled for Sunday was also cancelled, however, two others continued on their journey. Both British Airways and Air France cancelled Tel Aviv flights on Sunday – while BA also pulled a flight to the Jordanian capital.
Meanwhile, German airline company Lufthansa scrubbed flights to and from Tel Aviv, Erbil, Iraq and Amman through Monday and plans to resume service on Tuesday. Flights to Beirut and Tehran are suspended until at least Thursday, the company said.
EasyJet has suspended all flights to and from Tel Aviv up to April 21, while Wizz Air said it would resume journeys to Israel on Tuesday.