Israel closed its airspace to all civilian traffic, grounding all flights at Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv early on Friday morning, after it launched a preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear and other military sites.
Tens of thousands of passengers had been scheduled to arrive in or depart from Tel Aviv that day, and hundreds of thousands are expected to be impacted as the weekend unfolds.
The Israeli Ministry of Transportation announced on Friday that the country’s airspace will remain closed “until further notice.” It stated that passengers would get six hours’ notice before the airspace reopening.
The closure could last at least three days, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.
“Nobody knows how long the airport will be closed,” Mark Feldman, CEO of Ziontours, told JNS on Friday. “It could be three or four days, or it could be longer.”
El Al, Israel’s flagship carrier, which has continued operating throughout the 20-month war against Hamas in Gaza, has removed all flights from its reservation system for the next two weeks, Feldman told JNS.
“We are telling our clients to stay calm and understand that it may be a few days until they get to their final destination,” he said.
Israeli carriers announced on Friday that they evacuated and relocated aircraft from the airport, in line with recommendations from the Civil Aviation Authority that are part of a special contingency plan developed in recent days.
The Israeli Transportation Ministry is gathering data on the number of Israeli travelers abroad affected by the airspace closure and is preparing to operate special return flights from nearby hubs when air travel resumes.
In past security flare-ups, similar flights were arranged from neighboring countries, such as Greece and Cyprus.
Nearly 75,000 passengers passed through Israel’s main airport on Thursday, aboard about 450 international flights, the Israel Airports Authority said.
The travel disruptions come weeks after major carriers—led by Delta Air Lines, followed by United Airlines and Air France—resumed service to Tel Aviv.
Other European airlines that had suspended service to Israel after the Houthi missile attack on May 4, including Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines, extended their cancellations through mid-to-late summer.
