El Al Airlines announced Thursday afternoon that three emergency flights—two from New York and one from Bangkok—are scheduled to depart for Israel overnight carrying Israelis stranded abroad at the start of the war against Iran. The airline confirmed that passengers assigned to these flights have already been notified.
Looking ahead, El Al said it is preparing to operate additional rescue flights next week from major global hubs, subject to government approval. European departure points are expected to include London, Paris, Larnaca, Athens, and Rome. In the United States, flights will operate from New York and Los Angeles, while in Asia, additional departures are planned from Bangkok.
Passengers will be asked to confirm or update their preferred departure city via an email expected to be sent later Thursday.
The airline added that 14 rescue flights from various destinations are scheduled to land in Israel on Friday, pending final confirmation.
"Since the beginning of the rescue flight operation, we have managed to return thousands of passengers within approximately seven days of their original flight date," El Al said in a statement. "We are working to reduce that timeframe further, depending on the state’s authorization to increase flight frequency. We are ready to do so."
El Al clarified that customers with valid tickets for canceled flights who have been reassigned to emergency flights do not need to pay additional fees. Passengers holding El Al or Sun D’Or tickets for departures through July 15, 2025, may cancel and receive a credit voucher for future use.
In light of the crisis, new bookings for El Al and Sun D’Or flights scheduled through July 15, 2025, have been temporarily suspended.
In addition, Arkia—Israel’s second-largest airline and one that operates on Shabbat, unlike El Al—is also preparing to repatriate Israeli citizens stranded in New York, pending final approval from the authorities.
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Meanwhile, Air Haifa announced Thursday afternoon the launch of public ticket sales for flights from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Haifa International Airport. Beginning Monday, June 23, and continuing through Thursday, June 26, the airline will operate four daily flights, with tickets starting at $360 per passenger (not including checked baggage).
Minutes after the announcement, the airline’s website was overwhelmed by traffic, and the initial batch of tickets sold out quickly. Additional ticket inventory will be made available later.
Up until now, all flights returning Israelis from abroad as part of Operation Safe Return have been filled according to internal priority lists set by the airlines, with no open ticket sales to the general public—neither during Wednesday’s 20 flights nor during the dozens of flights operating Thursday.
“Due to high demand, our servers are experiencing extreme traffic,” the airline said in a statement. “We apologize in advance for long wait times. Our support teams are working to expand service capacity and improve availability.”
In parallel, Air Haifa continues to operate nine dedicated daily rescue flights for prioritized passengers based on urgent needs and pre-approved lists.