According to a statement made by the airline to the Tel Aviv stock exchange on Tuesday, the national airline of Israel, El Al airlines, will continue to halt all scheduled flights to and from Israel until May 30th. The exception will be cargo flights and one time flights.

According to reports in the Israeli media, Israel’s flagship carrier said the decision was based on new measures announced by Israels Health Ministry on Monday. The new regulations failed to lift the requirement on self-quarantine of any and all passengers arriving in Israel nor did they allow non-citizens to enter the country. Without those two factors in play, the airline sees no point in restarting its service as it will result in an extremely low rate of travel for passengers.

An exception to the rule came when El Al announced on Monday that it would still operate “special” return flights from Ben-Gurion Airport to London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle on May 11 and May 14.

The airline is operating a series of 60 humanitarian cargo flights that will depart from Wuhan, China, and arrive in various major European cities including London, Paris and Frankfurt. These flights will travel via Israel. El Al has stated that their Dreamliner fleet will be tasked with flying the routes, each carrying approximately 25 tons of humanitarian goods to assist the battle against the pandemic.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)