The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has decided to cancel flights to and from Israel Wednesday, July 23rd, for 24 hours in addition to a previous 24 hour ban the day before due to an air missile that landed near the Ben-Gurion airport.
Several U.S. and international airlines have taken matters in their own hands, having cancelled flights to and from Israel for nearly a month; U.S. Airways, Delta Air Lines, European Airlines, Lufthansa, and Air Berlin are among the airlines to cancel flights. Many of the airlines that have cancelled flights are offering customers either a full refund or the opportunity to change their flights that are scheduled between July 22nd and August 15th to any time after August.
Delta Air Lines responded before the FAA ban; the airline dropped passengers off in Paris instead of Israel after it received word that a missile had hit near Tel Aviv. Delta is cancelling all of its flights to Israel until the company feels it is safe to fly there once more, regardless of what the FAA deems as safe, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
The Israel Transportation Ministry is flustered by the airlines’ decision to cancel flights; the ministry believes that cancelling flights rewards the acts of “terror” and that Ben-Gurion will remain a safe airport. The ministry is also providing tourists for places to stay if their airline has not already done so, USA Today noted.
Not all airlines are concerned with the conditions in Israel; British Airways and Ukrainian Airlines are two of about 22 airlines that continue to serve Israel. The U.S. is working with Israel to determine when it is safe for flights to resume.