The national flag carrier of Israel, El Al, wants to charter planes from a private Eastern European airline as part of a massive repatriation operation that would see flights land in Egypt and Jordan close to the border with Israel, where passengers could cross over by land.
On Monday, the Home Front Command of the Israel Defense Forces said it would gradually start to open airspace over the country in a gradual and controlled manner, with very limited operations allowed to resume at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport, the country’s primary air gateway.
In a statement, El Al said it was prepared to resume flights the moment that Ben Gurion Airport reopens, with initial flights planned from popular overseas destinations where the majority of Israelis have found themselves stranded since airspace was shuttered on Saturday.
The first phase of a massive repatriation operation will see El Al flights depart from:
- United States: New York JFK, Miami, Los Angeles
- Far East: Bangkok and Phuket
- Europe: Larnaca, Athens, Rome, Milan, Paris, Budapest, Tbilisi, Sofia, Warsaw, Bucharest, Madrid, London, Barcelona, Geneva, Amsterdam, Munich, and Zurich.
These flights will be operated by El Al’s own fleet of aircraft, including Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 737s.
Some of these planes were evacuated from Israel on Saturday as a security precaution over fears that Iranian ballistic missiles could target Ben Gurion Airport.
The evacuation broke El Al’s normally strict observance of the Jewish holy tradition of Shabbat, in which planes are grounded from sunset on Friday to nightfall on Saturday.
El Al had previously announced that it would focus on repatriating stranded passengers whose flights had been cancelled, and new bookings have been suspended until March 21 at the earliest.
“Closing ticket sales is intended to ensure full priority for customers whose tickets were issued before the current situation and to guarantee their travel as soon as possible,” the airline explained in a statement.
Foreign airlines are expected to keep flights suspended to Israel even once the airport authority gives the go-ahead for operations to resume, so El Al and its subsidiary Sundor will be leading a massive effort to repatriate stranded Israelis.
To that end, El Al has confirmed that it is considering bringing in Lithuanian charter carrier KlasJet to operate flights from some European destinations to Taba in Egypt, which is located only a few miles from the border with Israel and close to the Red Sea resort town of Eilat.
KlasJet could also operate flights to Aqaba in Jordan, which is also only a short drive to the Israeli border and Eilat.
El Al says that these flights still need the necessary approvals from Israeli security authorities.
Also on Monday, Emirates and Etihad Airways resumed a small number of repatriation flights from their respective hubs in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, after gaining special clearance from the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority.
Normal flight schedules, however, remain suspended until Tuesday at the earliest.
There are also reports that Qatar Airways will attempt to resume a limited number of flights from its hub at Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH) with departures currently scheduled for a slew of international destinations.
Officially, however, the airline says that flights are suspended until 9:00 am (local) on Tuesday, and the Qatari civil aviation authority has yet to announce the reopening of airspace over the country.
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