The return of foreign airlines to Israel is finally bringing down airfares, which have remained stubbornly high over the last two years.

By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS

British Airways and Iberia plan to resume flights to Israel on Sunday, becoming the latest carriers to restore service to Tel Aviv following Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June and this month’s ceasefire with Hamas.

The move highlights both the resurgence of the Israeli aviation sector and the reemergence of Tel Aviv as an international travel hub.

The British flag carrier will offer daily service from London’s Heathrow Airport to Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport, while Iberia will renew service from Madrid, following in the footsteps of its Spanish rival Air Europa.

Scandinavian Airlines is also returning to Israel next week after nearly a decade, with thrice weekly service from Copenhagen to Tel Aviv, while the German low-cost carrier Eurowings will restart flights to Tel Aviv next week as well.

United is expanding its service to Israel next month, adding flights from its hubs in Chicago and Washington, D.C., in addition to its twice daily Newark flights, cementing its position as the U.S. carrier with the most flights to Israel.

Italy’s ITA Airlines and Air India are due to resume flights to Israel by the end of the year.

Some 60 foreign carriers are now flying to Tel Aviv compared to 80 two years ago, before the war, an Israel Airport Authority spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The return of foreign airlines to Israel is finally bringing down airfares, which have remained stubbornly high over the last two years.

Several major international carriers that have not resumed service to Tel Aviv yet, include American Airlines—the only U.S. legacy carrier not to restart flights to Israel—Emirates, which is coming back in the spring, and Cathay Pacific.

American Airlines, which is thought to be eyeing a return as it has been hiring Hebrew-speaking staff, did not return requests for comment.

The return to Israel of Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier, Ryanair, has been pushed off indefinitely due to a dispute with the Israel Airports Authority over regaining its past flight slots.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Israel has asked Oman to allow commercial flights access to its airspace en route to the Far East.

Separately, El Al announced on Tuesday that it was resuming twice-daily domestic flights from Tel Aviv to Eilat after a break of more than a decade, during which the route was only serviced by Israel’s smaller carriers.

Some 68,000 passengers were traveling through Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday on over 400 international flights, according to the Israel Airport Authority.

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BA’s rival Virgin Atlantic has not yet resumed flights to Israel and is only due to restart service in October.

By JNS

British Airways resumed flights to Israel this weekend, becoming the latest major carrier to renew service suspended due to the Israel-Hamas war.

The move comes the week before the busy Passover and Easter travel season, when flights to Israel are heavily booked.

The British flag carrier’s red-eye flight from London’s Heathrow airport landed in Israel in the early hours of Sunday morning, while their morning flight to London left Ben-Gurion International Airport at sunrise.

El Al had offered service to both Heathrow and Luton airports throughout the war with multiple daily flights, but with high demand, airfare had skyrocketed amid allegations of price gouging.

Israir and the budget carrier Wizz Air also fly from Tel Aviv to the United Kingdom.

BA’s rival Virgin Atlantic has not yet resumed flights to Israel and is only due to restart service in October.

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According to the wrongful death lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court this week, Breuer experienced ‘conscious pain and suffering,’ along with ‘agony,’ ‘mental anguish,’ and ‘fear of impending death.’

By Jewish Breaking News

The family of a Jewish man who died from an asthma attack on a British Airways flight over the summer is suing the airline over negligence.

Shimon Breuer, 25, suffered the fatal attack aboard flight BA179 from London’s Heathrow Airport to New York last June, approximately one hour before the plane was scheduled to land at JFK International Airport.

He had been traveling to New York to volunteer at a children’s summer camp. His brother Hershel Breuer, who filed the suit as executor of Shimon’s estate, alleges the crew failed to take multiple critical steps that could have saved his brother’s life.

British Airways requires its flight attendants to be qualified in handling in-flight medical incidents, with mandatory annual refresher courses and training in aviation medical skills.

Specifically, crew members are taught to recognize and assist in treating passenger-related asthmatic events and attacks.

All BA aircraft are equipped with medicines and devices intended for emergency treatment of asthma attacks.

Measures that should have been taken but were not, include failure to contact their ground-based emergency telemedicine provider, deploy lifesaving medications from the aircraft’s emergency medical kit, declare an emergency for expedited landing status, or ensure emergency medical responders would meet the aircraft upon landing.

According to the wrongful death lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court this week, Breuer experienced “conscious pain and suffering,” along with “agony,” “mental anguish,” and “fear of impending death” before ultimately succumbing to the asthma attack.

News reports at the time suggested Breuer had accidentally dropped his personal inhaler between seats and that crew members attempted CPR and oxygen administration after he lost consciousness, but the family’s attorney Abe Bohrer firmly disputed this version of events.

“It is shocking and shameful that the airline would seek to blame the innocent victim for his own death,” Bohrer tells the Independent.

“This airline had a responsibility to this young man, they failed him, and now his family is left to pick up the pieces.”

British Airways has not commented on the pending litigation, nor has American Airlines, named as a co-defendant for operating the flight as a codeshare partner. The case, which seeks unspecified damages to be determined by a jury, awaits a court date.

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