Lufthansa, Air France to resume Tel Aviv flights
Transportation Ministry works to bring back 3,000 passengers stranded after Turkey cancelled flights to Israel.
BERLIN - Air France and Germany's Lufthansa decided Friday to resume flights to Tel Aviv after canceling operations for several days over safety concerns.
Lufthansa said it would resume flights in stages starting Saturday morning. The decision also applies to its subsidiaries Germanwings, Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines.
Air France said its first flight to Tel Aviv will leave Paris on Friday night, and Air Berlin will resume flights on Saturday.
Lufthansa said its decision was based "on the basis of the most up-to-date information we have available and our own assessment of the local security situation." Air France cited "the concordant analyses carried out by the French government, other European Union countries and the United States."
The European Aviation Safety Agency on Thursday lifted a recommendation that airlines refrain from flying to Israel's main airport, which it made because of safety concerns after a Hamas missile landed nearby this week.
Meanwhile, the Transportation Ministry, along with Israeli airlines El Al, Arkia and Israir launched a special operation to bring back all of the Israeli passengers who remained stranded and without other options due to the cancellation of flights from Turkey to Israel.
The special operation includes ten flights from Athens to Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, and will bring back close to 3,000 passengers, who were flown into Athens from Istanbul and Anatolia, by Saturday.
