International airlines have announced cancellations of flights to Israel after a ballistic missile strike targeted the Ben-Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv, the country's main gateway to the world.
Swiss Airlines, Air Europa and the Lufthansa Group, already suspended all flights for the rest of the day. Air France also cancelled its daily flight to Israel.
Ballistic missile launched in Yemen hits Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday
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Ballistic missile launched in Yemen hits Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday
(Photo: Meir Turgeman)
3 View gallery
Ballistic missile launched in Yemen hits Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday
(Photo: Tal Shahar)
Air Europa's decision came as its aircraft heading for Ben Gurion Airport was on the runway in Madrid when the missile landed. An Air India flight that had already reached neighboring Jordan's airspace turned around and returned home.
British Airways kept its Tel Aviv flight for over two hours on the runway in London, pending a decision by the management on whether or not to suspend the flight.
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Austrian Airlines later announced it was cancelling its two scheduled flights to Israel and that a decision on further suspension of Israel operations, including a flight scheduled to leave Vienna for Tel Aviv, in the evening hours, would be made later in the day.
French low-cost Transavia, which was on its way to Israel when the missile strike occurred, diverted its flight to Greece.
Nikos Christodoulides delayed his arrival on an official visit to Israel amid the missile strike. He took off from Larnaca only after Ben-Gurion Airport announced it was renewing operations.
The concern that international carriers would suspend their flights once again, as they had done during the war, drove the stock of Israel's national carrier El Al, up in stock market trading. El Al had come under fire for hiking up prices when it faced little or no competition from other airlines.