Over a week after a rocket attack penetrated air defenses and struck the outskirts of Tel Aviv’s main international airport, several carriers–including both US carriers–have extended flight cancellations to Israel.

Flight Cancellations To Israel Extended: Star Alliance Carriers Take A More Cautious Approach Than SkyTeam

On May 4, 2025, a rocket attack from Yemen penetrated Israel’s Arrow 3 missile defense system and US-made THAAD missile defenses, landing near aircraft parked on the runway outside Terminal 1 at Ben Gurion (TLV), Tel Aviv’s main airport, on Sunday morning. While six people were injured, there were no deaths or life-threatening injuries and the airport was only closed for 30 minutes.

The Lufthansa Group, which was set to resume service to Tel Aviv on May 18th, has extended flight cancellations through May 31, 2025. While United Airlines and Delta say that service suspensions are being evaluated on a day-by-day basis, United just pulled its Tel Aviv flight through June 12th. Delta still plans to resume service on May 20th. While Star Alliance carriers are taking a more cautious approach, Air France and KLM just resumed service.

As it stands now, the following major carriers have suspended service to TLV through the date indicated below:

• Aegean Airlines – through May 16, 2025
• Air India – through May 25, 2025
• Austrian Airlines – through May 31, 2025
• British Airways – through June 14, 2025
• Brussels Airlines – through May 31, 2025
• Delta Air Lines – through May 20, 2025
• Eurowings – through May 31, 2025
• Iberia Express – through May 31, 2025
• ITA Airways – through May 18, 2025
• LOT Polish – through May 18, 2025
• Lufthansa – through May 31, 2025
• Ryanair – through May 21, 2025
• Swiss International Air Lines – through May 31, 2025
• United Airlines – through June 12, 2025
• Wizz Air – through May 14, 2025

Several carriers have maintained or since resumed service, including:

• Air France
• Arkia
• Azerbaijan Airlines
• Blue Bird Airways
• Cyprus Airways
• El Al
• Electra Airways
• Ethiopian Airlines
• Etihad Airways
• Flydubai
• Georgian Airways
• Hainan Airlines
• HiSky
• Israir
• KLM
• Smartwings
• TAROM
• Transavia
• Tus Airways

Why the dichotomy? Are some carriers being overly cautious? Is it more a function of reduced demand in light of passenger fears? Do supply chain and other logistical factors play into this? Are unions pushing back against resuming service?

In a word, yes. I don’t think any carrier is suspending service for any one factor alone, but there’s great expense involved in pausing and resuming service and some carriers are taking a more conservative approach out of a hesitation to ramp up only to have to ramp down again.

CONCLUSION

United Airlines and carriers from the Lufthansa Group have just extended flight cancellations to Israel. While Israel has assured carriers that airspace in and around Tel Aviv is safe, a handful of carriers are taking a more cautious approach. If your travel plans are impacted, rebooking options will be limited: if you must travel, consider the list above and that carriers like Lufthansa and United have announced rolling delays in the return of service, a move that makes advance planning very difficult.

image: British Airways