British Airways extends suspension of Israel flights after Yemeni missile strike
British Airways has extended the cancellation of flights to and from the Israeli-occupied territories until the end of July, citing security concerns for the decision following a Yemeni missile attack on Ben Gurion International Airport earlier this month.
A BA spokesman announced the decision in a statement on Saturday, confirming that the airline will not offer any flights from the UK to Israel until at least August.
“We continually monitor operating conditions and have made the decision to suspend our flights to and from Tel Aviv, up to and including 31 July. We’ve apologized to our customers for the inconvenience,” the BA spokesman said.
A message on the airline’s website for the route reads, “Sorry, we have no flights available. Please edit your search to find other routes.” The next scheduled flight from London to Tel Aviv is on Aug. 1.
British Airways had previously halted all flights until mid-June after a Yemeni hypersonic ballistic missile landed inside the perimeter of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport and injured six people at the beginning of the month.
The airline subsequently evacuated staff staying in the city to the Austrian capital, Vienna.
Several foreign airlines also extended cancellations of their scheduled flights to the Israeli-occupied territories following the missile attack.
Air France further extended its own flight pause from May 24 to May 26. It was unclear whether this would be extended further.
The flight cancellations have left many Israeli settlers stranded outside the occupied territories.
On May 4, the Israeli military failed to intercept the Yemeni missile that successfully struck the heavily fortified Ben Gurion airport.
Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement has declared all airports across the Israeli-occupied territories unsafe zones, escalating their retaliatory missile and drone strikes on the Ben Gurion Airport in solidarity with Palestinians enduring a genocidal war in Gaza.
The Yemeni Armed Forces have vowed to impose a complete “aerial blockade” on Israel by “repeatedly targeting airports,” especially Ben Gurion.
The Yemeni Armed Forces started their military operations against the Israeli regime in late 2023, shortly after the regime unleashed its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, where more than 52,900 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed since then.
The Yemeni forces have carried out hundreds of missile strikes against Israeli targets, both in the occupied territories and in the Red Sea.
