While travelers in recent days have been worried about the possibility of another security escalation and its impact on the aviation industry, at least some foreign airlines are sending a decidedly optimistic message. Instead of cutting back or canceling routes, Lufthansa Group is significantly expanding its Israel operations heading into August—and SWISS will resume flights to Israel for the first time since March.
This Saturday, August 1, a SWISS flight from Zurich will land at Ben Gurion Airport—the airline’s first flight to Israel after roughly five months. Starting that day, the carrier will operate daily service on the Zurich–Tel Aviv route using wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft.
At the same time, Lufthansa Group will significantly increase its overall Israel operations. During August, the group—which also includes Eurowings—will operate 54 weekly flights to and from Israel, nearly double the 29 weekly flights it ran in July.
Lufthansa itself is also expanding. The airline continues to operate two daily flights on the Frankfurt–Tel Aviv route, and is now adding two daily flights on the Munich–Tel Aviv route as well. Austrian Airlines will also increase its Vienna–Tel Aviv service from 11 to 14 weekly flights, while Brussels Airlines will resume its Israel route with one weekly flight between Brussels and Tel Aviv.
Lufthansa Group’s expansion joins a trend seen in recent weeks, with more and more foreign airlines returning to Israel and even increasing flight frequencies. For travelers, this is significant good news—the increased flight capacity is expected to improve travel options to Europe and connections to destinations around the world.