21 Flights Chartered from Cyprus to Repatriate Israelis

All 21 flights are scheduled to depart from Larnaca, with four set to fly to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, nine set to fly to Haifa, five set to fly to the Jordanian city of Aqaba, which is located adjacent to Israel’s Eilat on the shores of the Red Sea, and three set to fly to Jordan’s capital, Amman.

The Cyprus News Agency wrote that the flights to Israel “receive special permission from the Israeli authorities” due to the ongoing situation and added that following the United States’ bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend, “the situation with the flights is constantly changing”.

In addition, it reported that boats from Israel have continued to arrive at and depart from the Larnaca marina, ferrying people who wish to leave Israel to the island, and ferrying Israelis to the country.

Meanwhile, according to news agency Reuters, Israel’s airports authority said that “rescue flights” to the country from elsewhere in the world would “expand” on Monday, with 24 flights a day expected from “various destinations”.

These flights, Reuters added, are to be limited to 50 passengers.

Israel’s national carrier El Al said on Monday that it would start serving eight international destinations after receiving a “massive wave” of requests from foreign tourists in Israel to leave the country.

In total, around 25,000 people applied to El Al to leave Israel on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East is now having a knock-on impact on general aviation in the Middle East, with Air France saying it has cancelled flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh on Sunday and Monday.

Spain’s national carrier Iberia cancelled its Monday flight from Madrid to Doha, with Reuters reporting that “no decision” has yet been made regarding operations on Tuesday.

Singapore Airlines, meanwhile, cancelled flights from Singapore to Dubai on Sunday following a “security assessment”, while British Airways cancelled flights to Dubai and Doha on the same day. Singapore Airlines advised that future flights may also be impacted as the situation remains “fluid”.

Last week, American Airlines had suspended flights to Qatar and fellow US carrier United Airlines suspended flights to Dubai.

Source: Cyprus Mail