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Several international carriers halt flights to Israel amid rocket fire

Several international airlines have cancelled their flights to Israel amid security fears as the ...
Newstalk
Newstalk

17.35 22 Jul 2014


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Several international carriers...

Several international carriers halt flights to Israel amid rocket fire

Newstalk
Newstalk

17.35 22 Jul 2014


Share this article


Several international airlines have cancelled their flights to Israel amid security fears as the conflict in Gaza continues.

The US government has grounded all American airline flights to Israel for 24 hours, after a plane had to be diverted when a rocket landed near Tel Aviv airport.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the advisory after Delta, US Airways and United all cancelled services to Israel.

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Delta said one of its planes from New York to Ben Gurion Airport had to be diverted to Paris on Tuesday because of missile fire.

Flight 468 had 273 passengers and 17 crew on board.

The FAA said it had "issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) informing US airlines that they are prohibited from flying to or from Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport for a period of up to 24 hours.

"The notice was issued in response to a rocket strike which landed approximately one mile from Ben Gurion International Airport on the morning of July 22, 2014".

The FAA issued a broader air warning about Ukraine earlier this year before last week's downing of a passenger jet over that country, killing all 298 people on board.

Delta said earlier on Tuesday that its service between Ben Gurion and New York's JFK airport would be suspended until further notice.

United Airlines - which runs two daily flights to Israel out of Newark, New Jersey - followed suit.

US Airways, which operates one flight a day between Philadelphia and Tel Aviv, said it would reevaluate the situation regarding future flights.

While European carriers  Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Germanwings have suspended their flights to Tel Aviv "because of the uncertain situation" for the next 36 hours.

Dutch airline KLM said it too had cancelled its service "due to uncertain circumstances at and near the airport of Tel Aviv".

And Air France says it has decided to suspend flights to Israel until further notice.

"Air France's security department is closely. monitoring local developments in real time. The safety of our passengers and our crews remains our top priority" it says.

Israel launched a major offensive on July 8th on the Gaza Strip and the fighting continues.

On Tuesday, a Hamas rocket hit a town near Ben Gurion Airport.

Israeli police spokeswomen Luba Samri told the Associated Press news agency the missile damaged a house and slightly wounded one Israeli.

More than 600 Palestinians - many of them women and children - and 29 Israelis have been killed in the 15-day conflict.


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