Flight BA165 returns to Heathrow after nearly reaching Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
Airplanes operated by British Airways line up on the tarmac at London Heathrow Airport on Friday, 31st March, 2023. Flight BA165 from this airport was on approach to Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport when it was recalled to London.
British Airways‘ flight from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv is returning to the United Kingdom after a decision not to land at Israel’s main airport. The Airbus A350 had flown almost the entire 2,233-mile journey prior to turning around.
British Airways Flight BA165 from London’s Heathrow Airport to Tel Aviv made an abrupt U-turn shortly before it was due land in the Israeli city on Wednesday as the airline had cancelled all flights to the destination amid safety concerns.
According to the FlightRadar24 airplane tracking website, the flight was on the approach to Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport when it was called back to its original destination.
British Airways confirmed to CNN that the flight was turned around just before it was due to land in the northern Israeli city, which has come under rocket fire as extreme fighting rages between Israel forces and Hamas.
Israel flights suspended by British Airways over safety fears
The airline said that it had halted services to and from Tel Aviv as of late Wednesday. British Airways has now suspended flights on the route until further notice, as has Virgin Atlantic.
A spokesperson for British Airways said in a statement to CNN that safety was always their highest priority and that they were suspending their flights to and from Tel Aviv following the latest assessment of the situation.
The airline said they were contacting customers booked to travel to or from Tel Aviv to apologize for the inconvenience and to offer options including full refunds or rebooking with British Airways or with other airlines at a later date.
British Airways did not say when flights would resume but stated that they will continue to monitor the situation in the region closely.
What other airlines are doing
Several other international airlines with connections to Tel Aviv have suspended services as attacks have escalated.
Virgin Atlantic and US carriers including United, Delta, and American Airlines have all cancelled flights or codeshare services in recent days.
Meanwhile, several countries have added special repatriation flights to airlift their citizens out of Israel.
The move came after an aviation membership organisation, OpsGroup warned that Israel was now an active war zone. As such, all lessons learned regarding civil operations in conflict zones over the past nine years since MH17 need to be applied.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, a passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down by a Buk anti-aircraft missile that belonged to the Russian army, over occupied eastern Ukraine in 2014. All the 298 passengers on board and crew died in the attack.
Ops Group added that the ultimate sentiment from MH17 still echoes : ‘What were they doing flying over a war zone?’ They said they truly hoped that the same question does not need to be asked in Tel Aviv airspace this week.
Most United Kingdom airlines have already suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv. El Al is still continuing to operate on the Heathrow-Tel Aviv route. Tuesday’s final Virgin Atlantic flight prior to its suspension arrived at the Israeli airport at about the same time as the British Airways crew decided to return to London.
Finnair cancelled all its flights to and from Tel Aviv on Tuesday, until 30th March 2024 because of “the unstable situation in Israel”.
