Israel reopens airport for repatriation flights

Aviation officials estimate it will take seven to 10 days to bring the Israelis abroad back home.

By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS

The first repatriation flights for Israelis stranded abroad amid the war with Iran landed on Thursday at Ben-Gurion International Airport, after five days during which Israeli airspace was shuttered to all civilian traffic amid Iranian missile attacks.

The inbound-only flights were being operated by all four Israeli airlines, led by flag carrier El Al, to bring home tens of thousands of Israelis stranded abroad by the war.

Outbound flights from Israel will resume on Sunday, Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev said on Thursday.

“After assessing the situation, we have made the decision to open the skies starting Sunday for outbound flights, subject to security developments,” said Regev.

An estimated 100,000 Israelis were abroad when the conflict broke out on Saturday, while some 33,000 foreign tourists were in Israel.

Aviation officials estimate it will take seven to 10 days to bring the Israelis abroad back home.

The first flights to land in Israel on Thursday morning were an El Al flight from Athens and an Israir flight from Rome, with Arkia and Air Haifa flights scheduled to arrive later in the day.

“This is a signifcant and moving moment for all of us, after five days when the country’s skies were closed to commercial flights,” the pilot of the El Al plane told passengers before takeoff. “We are proud to bring you back to Israel.”

From the control tower at the airport just outside of Tel Aviv, the Israeli Transportation Minister told the pilot: “We wish you a safe landing and with God’s help, we will bring all the Israelis home.”

The landings were later briefly halted Thursday morning during an Iranian missile attack that targeted central Israel.

El Al said on Tuesday it has started assigning ticket holders stranded abroad to repatriation flights from 22 destinations back to Israel. The placement will be carried out by the airline based on the date of the customers’ original flight tickets.

Over the last five days, thousands of tourists in Israel, as well as Israelis abroad, traveled via land border crossing through Egypt to get home.