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Air France to resume flights to Israel

Air France’s decision follows a recent trend of foreign airlines renewing flights to Israel as regional tensions de-escalate.

Air France
An Air France A350-900 landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport, on May 10, 2021. Credit: Steven He via Wikimedia Commons.

Air France said on Tuesday that flights to Israel will resume this weekend.

The move comes as an increasing number of foreign airlines are renewing flights to Ben-Gurion International Airport as regional tensions de-escalate.

An Air France spokesman said the airline will restart service to Israel on Jan. 25 with seven weekly flights between Tel Aviv and Paris.

The announcement comes a day after British Airways confirmed to JNS that it will resume service to Israel this spring.

The renewal of service on the British flag carrier comes a week before the weeklong Passover holiday—a time when flights to and from Israel are heavily booked.

The Lufthansa Group of airlines announced last week that it will resume service to Israel next month. The global aviation group includes Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways and Eurowings.

The three major U.S. legacy carriers are still not flying to Israel, sending fares spiraling on Israel’s national carrier, EL AL, which operated a virtual monopoly on the lucrative transatlantic route for most of the 15-month-long war. Delta Airlines is due to resume service to Tel Aviv from New York in April.

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