British Airways and Virgin Atlantic droop Tel Aviv flights after Hamas says it attacked airport

British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic have suspended flights to Tel Aviv – after Hamas mentioned it had attacked the Israeli airport.

The choices had been made after a BA flight was on strategy to the airport when the captain made the choice to divert again to Heathrow.

A spokesperson for Israel’s airports authority mentioned rockets had been flying round Tel Aviv on the time however weren’t an instantaneous risk to the flight or to Ben Gurion Airport.

Hamas’s armed army wing mentioned a missile had struck the grounds. Al Qassam Brigades mentioned it had “bombarded” the location in response to civilians being focused by Israel.

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Information from flight-tracking web site Flightradar confirmed the BA flight in query, 165, had nearly reached Tel Aviv when the touchdown was aborted.

Its imagery instructed the airplane banked to the correct and continued again over the Mediterranean, largely retracing its inbound flight path from Heathrow.

The incident occurred earlier than Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who’s in Israel on a solidarity go to, was pressured to run for shelter when a siren warning of rocket fireplace sounded.

British Airways, which had been amongst solely a handful of world airways to proceed flights to and from Tel Aviv since Saturday’s assault on Israel by Hamas, mentioned security was all the time its “highest priority”.

“Following the latest assessment of the situation we’re suspending our flights to and from Tel Aviv”, the airline’s assertion continued.

“We’re contacting customers booked to travel to or from Tel Aviv to apologise for the inconvenience and offer options including a full refund and rebooking with another airline or with British Airways at a later date.

“We proceed to watch the scenario within the area carefully.”

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Other airlines, including Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz halted services to Tel Aviv earlier in the week and were largely expected to maintain that position until such time air space was free of military threat.

Virgin Atlantic, which had curbed its schedule but not cut flights completely, said later on Wednesday evening: “The security of our prospects and our groups is our primary precedence, all the time.

“After careful consideration, based on latest information, we have taken the decision to pause flying to and from Tel Aviv for the next 72 hours.

“As the dynamic scenario evolves, we’ll preserve our flying programme beneath fixed evaluation.

“Our teams will be in contact with any affected customers to discuss their options, which include rebooking to a later date or a full refund.

“We would advise anybody booked to journey to examine their flight standing on the web site earlier than travelling to the airport.”