The Lufthansa Group announced Thursday morning it will gradually resume flights to and from Israel starting February 1, 2025.
The group’s airlines include Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings. The decision comes after a suspension due to regional tensions.
As part of its resumed operations in Israel, Lufthansa will operate daily flights to Frankfurt and Munich. Swiss will run a daily route to Zurich, Austrian Airlines will offer a daily flight to Vienna, Brussels Airlines will provide three weekly flights to Belgium and Eurowings will operate two weekly flights to Dusseldorf.
Israel's aviation sector has begun returning to regular activities in recent days after a prolonged freeze due to the war in Gaza and Lebanon. Last week, a senior executive at the Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair announced that the company would resume a full summer schedule of flights to Israel, having not landed at Ben Gurion Airport since February 2024.
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Over the weekend, Ryanair opened ticket bookings on its website as part of a sales campaign for various European destinations. The following routes are set to begin at the end of March and early April: Paphos, Athens, Rome, Budapest, Vienna, Berlin, Baden-Baden, Memmingen (Germany), Brussels, Lithuania, Malta, Krakow, Poznan and Bucharest.
Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air also expanded its operations in Israel on Wednesday, launching routes to Abu Dhabi, Rome, Milan, London, Warsaw, Krakow and Budapest.
On Monday, Israeli airline Arkia announced the launch of a direct route between Tel Aviv and New York in collaboration with TechAir, a division of Israel's high-tech hub. According to the company’s announcement, the first flight will depart Tel Aviv for New York (JFK) on Saturday, February 8, at 11:00 p.m. No American airlines are currently flying to Israel, leaving El Al as the sole operator of routes to the U.S.