Occupied Jerusalem- Yesterday, Friday, Bulgarian Airlines, which operates flights on the Tel Aviv-Sofia route, announced the cancellation of all its flights to and from Israel until December 23, thus joining dozens of international airlines that have suspended their flights to Lod (Ben Gurion) Airport. For weeks to come, in a pre-emptive step for the attack carried out by Israel on Iran at dawn on Saturday.
The Bulgarian company’s announcement was preceded by a statement issued by Air Seychelles, and a similar announcement by the Greek airline Aegean, which joined more international airlines that canceled or postponed their flights to Israel, following the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, and fearing the repercussions of Tel Aviv’s response to the attack. The Iranian missile in early October.
Since then, the phenomenon of suspension of flights and the operation of international airlines towards Israel has expanded, and this was compounded by the start of the massive military operation on Lebanon more than 3 weeks ago, and Israeli Channel 12 described it as a phenomenon linked to the atmosphere of intense anticipation of the Israeli attack on Iran.
Thus, the number of international airlines that have suspended their flights to and from Israel, since the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023, has risen to 30 international companies, from America, Africa, Asia, and Europe, including 18 companies that have suspended their flights for the coming weeks, possibly. It extends until the end of this year, while 12 companies have canceled their flights and work in Israel until March 2025.
Israeli Channel 12 reported that European airlines took the decision to suspend their flights to and from the three Israeli airports: Ben Gurion, Ramon, and Haifa, based on the official recommendation of the European Aviation Safety Agency of the European Union, and to ensure the safety of passengers and crew, in Tensions continued to rise in the Middle East.
Isolation and boycott
For her part, Globes economic correspondent Staff Livni believes that the talk is about more than just a wave of flight cancellations, which is an indicator of isolation and a kind of boycott, and hundreds of thousands of passengers are likely to be affected by this “unusual” recommendation.
To confront the phenomenon of global flight cancellations to Israel, Livni says that Israeli companies have added more than 50 flights to the international flight schedule, which will take place until the end of this October, and the main destinations will be Budapest, Athens, Larnaca, Milan, and other destinations in the Mediterranean basin. .
The correspondent explained that Israel expresses its fears that this recommendation will lead to a major change in the behavior of European airlines, “which enjoy unexpected public and popular support to stop flights to Israel completely,” she said, stressing that companies had previously taken temporary decisions regarding events. Certain conditions were valid for only a few days.
She indicated that the Israeli Ports and Airports Authority does not rule out that international companies will cancel their flights for a longer period and suspend their work in Israel until the beginning of 2025, as this announcement is also expected to have a direct impact on insurance prices for aircraft that may land at Israeli airports.
losses
The aviation and tourism sector in Israel continues to suffer huge losses since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip, and its loss until the end of last September was estimated at approximately 18.7 billion shekels (about 5 billion dollars) in the inbound tourism sector and 756 million shekels (about 200 million dollars) in the domestic tourism sector. According to the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.
According to Israeli Minister of Tourism Haim Katz, the Gaza war caused a decrease in the number of tourists coming from abroad, and the evacuation of towns and the war on the northern front with Hezbollah caused a severe crisis in tourism and loss of income, whether from incoming tourism or from domestic tourism, which was affected to To a large extent, especially in the northern region, due to the closure of hotels and tourism companies.
The Israeli Ministry of Tourism stated that the sudden Hamas attack, and the subsequent war on the Gaza Strip, halted the momentum of Israeli tourism’s recovery from the Corona pandemic crisis, as it was expected that the rate of tourists entering Israel in 2023 would break the record for foreign tourists recorded in 2019, which amounted to About 4.5 million.
But the outbreak of war and international airlines canceling their flights led to the number of foreign tourists in 2023 stopping at only 3 million. According to the rate of tourist arrivals in recent months, which reached about 80 to 100 thousand per month, it is expected that the year 2024 will end with only about one million tourists.
A survey conducted by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism during the war shows that most of the tourists who came to Israel were Jews, Catholic Christians, and Evangelicals. About 44% of them came to visit friends and family, while the main purpose for 28% was classic tourism and 13% for work, and for 73% of the tourists, their visit was redundant.
Since the beginning of the war, about 853,000 people have entered Israel on tourist visas, with the United States topping the list of arrivals, followed by France, Britain, Russia, and the Philippines, according to a survey by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.
Shipping crisis
On the other hand, the cancellation of international flights to Israeli airports caused an increase in the prices of importing goods to Israel, as air freight to Tel Aviv increased by about 30%, according to the economic newspaper “De Marker”.
According to the newspaper, the Israeli airline “El Al” recently informed its agents that it cannot accept reservations for its cargo flights from the Belgian city of Liege, where the main European cargo terminal is located, until further notice, due to the accumulation of air cargo cargo directed by Israel.
The newspaper’s economic correspondent, Daniel Schmel, says that the high prices for cargo flights and the lack of availability of these flights is due to “the air blockade imposed on Israel due to security threats. The recommendations of the European Aviation Safety Agency to cancel travel to and from Israel caused great pressure on air freight and the accumulation of goods destined by Israel at airports.” “global”.
He adds that aviation data at Ben Gurion Airport last September reveal the depth of the problem, “as cargo imports to the airport via passenger aircraft decreased by about 48%, and there was a need for more cargo aircraft, but cargo aircraft flights are less frequent.” It operates fewer passenger flights.
