The chief executive of Israeli charter airline Israir Airlines claims authorities in Slovenia refused permission for one of its planes to land in the capital, Ljubljana, for political reasons because, it is alleged, the government is protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza and across the Middle East.
Israir flight 6H-755 departed Tel Aviv at around 9:20 am on Wednesday for the three-hour flight to Ljubljana, but as the Airbus A320 approached the Slovenian border, the pilots were reportedly told they would not be permitted to land in Ljubljana as planned.
Instead, the plane ended up diverting to Zagreb in neighboring Croatia, where passengers had to complete their journeys by road.
Israir doesn’t regularly fly to Ljubljana, although several recent scheduled flights on May 26 and June 2 had to be cancelled due to political tensions between Slovenia and Israel.
The airline’s chief executive, Uri Sirkis, slammed Wednesday’s incident as a “blatant violation of the European Union’s aviation agreements,” while Israel’s Foreign Ministry deemed the situation as “completely unacceptable.”
“Israel has made it clear to the Slovenian authorities that this is a completely unacceptable step,” a statement from the Foreign Ministry continued.
Slovenia’s outgoing Leftist government has taken a hard stance against Israel’s policies in Gaza, Lebanon, and elsewhere – leading to what Israel describes as an illegal aviation boycott.
Given Slovenia’s well-known position on the issue, the attempt by Israir to fly to Ljubljana on June 3 does seem odd, especially given the fact that the airline hasn’t flown to Slovenia since October 2025.
However, right-wing politician Janez Janša is returning to power as Prime Minister in Slovenia for the fourth time after elections in March ended in a stalemate, and attempts to form a liberal coalition ended in failure.
Israeli media describe Janša as a supporter of Israel, and the Foreign Ministry hopes that his return to power will lead to a change of stance.
Local commentators, however, claim that Janša’s pro-Israel views could cause even more political trouble as “pro-Palestinian sympathies are extraordinarily strong in Slovenia.”
Israir specialises in package vacations and has grown to become Israel’s second largest airline after El Al. It serves a slew of destinations throughout Europe with a particularly strong focus on southern Europe.
The airline came to prominence in the Western media in December 2020 when it became the first-ever Israeli airline to operate a commercial flight to Dubai following the normalization of political relations between Israel and the UAE.
Israrir does not, however, currently serve Dubai or Abu Dhabi.
