Middle East: British Airways and Wizz Air suspend UK flights to Israel after overnight 'escalation'

British Airways has halted its flights between Heathrow and Tel Aviv in both directions between Sunday 25 August and Wednesday 28 August, the airline told PA. Budget Airline Wizz Air has followed suit, “temporarily suspending” flights to and from Israel on Sunday “due to the escalating situation in the region”.

Both were among the many international carriers which suspended flights to the country in October last year, after the start of its conflict with Hamas in Palestine. The situation has escalated since then, with Al Jazeera reporting some 40 thousand Palestinians have been killed in Gaza - including many civilians. A United Nations human rights expert has said the conflict meets many of the characteristics of a genocide, while the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for both Israeli and Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes.

Wizz Air and British Airways both restarted flights to Israel in March and April, respectively. But the situation has changed somewhat, after the Israeli military announced it had launched “pre-emptive” strikes against militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon on Sunday.

Labour MP Pat McFadden took to Sky News on Sunday morning to say a major war in the Middle East was “a real danger” - while foreign secretary David Lammy posted on X, formerly Twitter, that “further escalation in the Middle East must be avoided at all costs”.

A spokesman for British Airways told PA: “We’ve been continually monitoring the situation in the Middle East and have taken the operational decision to suspend our flights to and from Tel Aviv up to and including Wednesday 28 August. Safety is always our top priority, and we’re contacting customers to advise them of their travel options.”

Wizz Air, whose flights leave from Luton Airport, has not yet announced any further cancellations and a spokesperson said affected customers will be allowed to rebook on later flights free of charge - or will be given full refunds. Those who booked through online travel agencies or other third parties should contact them, the airline added.

Virgin Atlantic has also said that it will extend the suspension of its daily flight between Heathrow and Tel Aviv in both directions after a “security and safety assessment”. The airline will now resume the flights from 25 September - 20 days later than initially planned.

“Following the latest security and safety assessment and after careful consideration we have taken the difficult decision to delay the restart of our Tel Aviv services,” a spokesperson added. “Daily flights are now planned to resume on 25 September from London to Tel Aviv. We’d like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused.

“Our teams will be in contact with anyone affected to discuss options, which include rebooking to a later date or a full refund and, in the meantime, customers can benefit from our partnership with El Al which operates multiple daily flights between Heathrow and Ben Gurion Airport,” they continued. “We remain committed to our services to Israel and look forward to resuming flights to Tel Aviv as soon as the situation permits.”

British Airways flights from Heathrow to Tel Aviv from Thursday and beyond are currently labelled as “re-routed” on the airline’s online flight status tool, PA reports.