British Airways suspends all flights to Tel Aviv after diversion

LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) – British Airways said on Wednesday it would suspend all of its flights to Tel Aviv after it diverted a flight from London back to Britain due to security concerns in Israel.

Israel’s airports authority said there was no security threat at the airport at the time. Governments and airlines have sought to add flights from Israel to evacuate their country’s citizens, while others have sought to fly reservists back into Israel.

Aviation authorities have cautioned airlines flying into Israel but haven’t grounded flights altogether, with some experts warning that the current airspace situation was risky due to ongoing rocket attacks.

“Safety is always our highest priority and we’ve taken the decision to return our Tel Aviv flight to Heathrow (Airport),” a spokesperson for British Airways said.

British Airways had operated a single daily flight to Tel Aviv before the suspension, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar.

Since the surprise attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel on Saturday, many international airlines have suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv.

A spokesperson for Israel’s airports authority said rockets were flying around Tel Aviv at the time but were not an immediate threat to the flight or to Ben Gurion Airport.

She said the diversion back to Britain was the pilot’s decision and that no other flights were diverted.

With British Airways’ suspension, no IAG-owned (ICAG.L) airlines are now offering flights to Tel Aviv, a spokesperson for the group said.

Flightradar showed the flight in question, BA165, had almost reached Tel Aviv before beginning its return to London.

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Sarah reports on UK breaking news, with a focus on British companies. She has been a part of the UK bureau for 12 years covering everything from airlines to energy to the royals, politics and sport. She is a keen open water swimmer.

Joanna reports on airlines and travel in Europe, including tourism trends, sustainability and policy. She was previously based in Warsaw, where she covered politics and general news. She wrote stories on everything from Chinese spies to migrants stranded in forests along the Belarusian border. In 2022, she spent six weeks covering the war in Ukraine, with a focus on the evacuation of children, war reparations and evidence that Russian commanders knew of sexual violence by their troops. Joanna graduated from the Columbia Journalism School in 2014. Before joining Reuters, she worked in Hong Kong for TIME and later in Brussels reporting on EU tech policy for POLITICO Europe.