Travelers scramble as airlines cut flights amid fear of Iran-Israel war

Travelers scramble as airlines cut flights amid fear of Iran-Israel war

Germany’s national airline, Lufthansa, said Wednesday that it would extend its suspension on flying through Iranian and Iraqi air space until Aug. 13, amid an expected attack by Iran and its proxy forces against Israel in retaliation for the assassinations of Hezbollah senior commander Fuad Shukr and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

In a statement, the airline said it extended a suspension of services to Tel Aviv, Tehran, Beirut, Amman and Erbil.

Lufthansa previously suspended flights to Tel Aviv on Aug. 1 through Aug. 8. On July 31, Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran. Hamas said it was an Israeli “strike” that killed Haniyeh, while The New York Times reported that it was a bomb that had been planted in the compound where he was staying weeks earlier. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the incident. Hamas’ Gaza-based leader and Israel’s most-wanted man, Yahya Sinwar — who masterminded the Oct. 7 attack — will succeed Haniyeh as leader of the group.

Just one day before Haniyeh’s assassination, the Israeli military killed Shukr in Beirut. Shukr was a military adviser to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and a member of the group’s influential Jihad Council.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported Wednesday that Egypt instructed all of its airlines to avoid Iranian air space for a three-hour period in the early morning on Thursday, amid tension between Israel and Iran.

Delta Air Lines in the United States also announced last week that it had suspended flights to Tel Aviv until Aug. 31.

Other airlines also announced that they were canceling flights to and from Israel due to the security situation. British low-cost carrier easyJet said Tuesday it was extending its suspension until March 2025. The airline had previously suspended Israel-bound flights until Oct. 27, following Iran’s April 14 unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel in response to a bombing that in Syria killed senior members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Some airlines resumed flights to Israel this week, including Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air, which was welcome news to the thousands of Israelis stranded abroad. EL AL Israel Airlines, along with some local carriers, is also upping flights from Greece and Cyprus to help some 150,000 Israelis stranded abroad due to flight cancellations.