British Airways, Easyjet, Ryanair and Wizz Air latest travel advice as flights to Israel cancelled
11.10.2023 - 18:03
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A number of British airlines have suspended flights to Israel after conflict escalated over the weekend and left thousands of people dead.
British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air are among the air services halting flights, with many monitoring the situation as the week goes on. It comes as a British Airways flight from London to Tel Aviv was diverted today (Wednesday October 11) due to safety concerns.
According to the latest flight tracking data on FlightRadar24.com, the BA165 flight was heading towards Greece and was approaching Israel’s west coast when the route was changed, Sky News reported. It claims that Israel’s airport authority said the decision to divert was made by the pilot, indicating that there was not a security threat at Ben Gurion Airport.
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Images from FlightRadar24.com show how the aircraft’s route was altered as it did a U-turn above Israel’s coastline.
On Saturday, October 6, during a major Jewish holiday Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of fighters into Israeli towns near the Gaza strip in a deadly attack. At least 700 people have reportedly been killed in Israel over two days following the Hamas attack.
More than 400 have also been killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli retaliatory air strikes. The attack caught Israel’s military and intelligence apparatus completely off guard, bringing heavy battles to its streets for the first time in decades. On Sunday Israel formally declared war on Hamas and launched airstrikes in Gaza.
Earlier this week, the UK Foreign Office updated its travel advice, advising “against all but essential” travel to Israel and